


Continuum

by Demitria_Teague



Series: Continuum [1]
Category: SHINee
Genre: AU, Adult Content, Alternate Universe - Zombie Apocalypse, Angst, Attempted Rape, BAMF!Kibum, BAMF!Minho, BAMF!Onew, Blood and Gore, Cover Art, Drinking, Explicit Language, Explicit Sexual Content, Fluff, Homosexuality, Humor, Jealous!Taemin, Key/Jonghyun Bromance, Keycentric, M/M, Maknae Condition, Male Homosexuality, Mention of minor OC's, More to be added as they appear - Freeform, Mutant Powers, Onew Condition, Past Domestic Violence, Post-Apocalypse, Protective Jonghyun, SHINee - Freeform, SHINee AU, SHINee Zombie AU, Slash, Sneaky Taemin, Survival Methods, Underage Drinking, Violence, Weapons, Yaoi, Zombie Apocalypse, Zombies, mentions of past rape, minor OC's - Freeform, on the road
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2015-11-17
Updated: 2017-03-09
Packaged: 2018-05-02 02:11:49
Rating: Explicit
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence, Rape/Non-Con
Chapters: 14
Words: 47,516
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/5229899
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Demitria_Teague/pseuds/Demitria_Teague
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>In a Post Apocalyptic world where Humans are as dangerous as the Zombies who roam the Earth, trusting someone may mean the difference between life and death.  And sanity is questionable. </p><p>Jinki:  An introvert from hell, who dislikes people, and may or may not have PTSD.  Minho:  A bubbly, not quit human, ex-army brat.  Jonghyun:  An adorkable idiot you can't help but love.  Taemin:  An off-kilter teenager who despises his looks.  And Key:  (Also not quite human) A male Diva, who nags and loves like a mother, and hates that people use the Apocalypse as an excuse to be dicks.</p><p>When these five survivors are forced together by circumstance, tension runs high, morals are tested, relationships develop, and each of them are forced not only to face each other, but themselves as well.</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. Taemin and Jonghyun

**Author's Note:**

> Continuum: a coherent whole characterized as a collection, sequence, or progression of values or elements varying by minute degrees
> 
> This chapter begins with a recall of a past rape. Doesn't go in to much detail, it just states this is what happened and moves on with the story.

* * *

 

**Chapter One**

**Taemin and Jonghyun**

 

His first bad experience during the Zombie Apocalypse happened a few weeks after everything had already gone to shit. He'd been terrified to enter the small convenient store to scrounge up some food. It makes him feel minutely better to see that no windows had been broken out and that the back door had been boarded shut. Although, the last detail had also made him nervous, because that meant only one way in and out. Even if the zombies hadn't of been able to come at him from two ways it had also meant that he could've easily been overwhelmed from the front door.

He'd dressed in dark jeans, and a black pull over hoodie so that he wouldn't stick out like a sore thumb before he'd even considered leaving the crappy hole of an apartment that he'd been squatting in. The street had been eerily quiet as he made his way across it. He'd foolishly hoped that it'd be a simple in and out job. What he hadn't expected was for three human men to also come in the store a few minutes after him. Two of them had been slightly shorter than him and one had been about his height.

Everything, from the way they talked to each other carelessly, loudly, to the way that they swaggered in to the shop, had made him uneasy. He'd even ducked behind one of the isles to try and hide from them, but he'd been too late. When they'd cornered him he'd been to nervous to say anything. He knows he'd looked like a deer caught in headlights, wide eyed and slack jawed. Afterwards, he'd wondered if this more than anything is what had spurred them in to action.

He'd fought back, but they'd eventually overwhelmed him. So, in the middle of a zombie apocalypse, it wasn't mindless flesh eating monsters that had attacked him, but his own traitorous species. One had covered his mouth to muffle his cries of pain while another one raped him. The third one had held his arms behind his back and they'd taken turns switching out.

Afterwards, they'd just left him there, with his pants around his ankles, tears from pain and humiliation running down his face. He doesn't remember all of the filthy things they'd said to him during the assault, but after three years of surviving in this post apocalyptic hell, one thing inparticular still replays strongly in his head every time he meets another human being.

You're so pretty.

He can still remember the sound of a leer as they'd said it. He holds on to those words. He holds the memory closely, because it keeps his mind sharp, knowing that this is the only way he can keep himself from ever being at the mercy of any-one or any-thing ever again. Now, that he's had ample time to process, he can actually laugh about what had happened to him. He's actually grateful, because if it hadn't of happened, he never would have lost that fear that something bad could happen to him. Being in the face of true evil, having to face his own fears, had given him a painstaking glance at his own humanity.

It had dulled something inside of him and given him the ability to do things he'd never thought he'd do to survive. Some would call him unhinged. Some would call him crazy. Some would call him a fucking psycho. It was ok, though.

He understood. If the world was normal, all of those things would be correct. As it was, though, the world wasn't normal. It was, in fact, abnormal, something out of every child and adults worst nightmare. All aspects of civilization had faded away to reveal the basic feral nature of humanity. At it's core, human beings were animals.

Because of his horrific experience, he'd settled more quickly in to his role in this new world than he could have ever imaged was possible. That's why when he did things like he was about to do, he didn't blink or think twice about it. The only thing that had him lingering a few extra seconds on the edge of some abandoned warehouse, at fucking nighttime when he was the most vulnerable, was the fact that he was being careful. He had to make sure that he wasn't mistaken the situation for something it wasn't. A simple slip up like that was one of the quickest ways to get yourself killed or worse.

His expression is impassive as he crouched down to peer in to the dust covered window. It was broken in the middle, which gave him a wide view of the scene unfolding inside. A man facing away from him was holding someone by the hair. From the jerky movements of the mans arms, they appear to be trying to resist. He hears a snuffling noise and recognizes it immediately. The other person is crying.

"Let him go!" Another voice. He turns his head slightly and a guy comes running from the direction the first two had come from. A second later two more guys come rushing up behind him and they both grab one of his arms.

"I thought I told you to lock him up," the first guy yells.

The guy who had come running is struggling between them, but the two holding on to him are apparently stronger than their small appearances portray. They both bow their heads in one quick motion and start tugging him back.

"No, Taemin," the guy being dragged away screams. His kicks towards the men holding him are unsuccessful and they manage to pull him out of view. "Let him go," echoes through the building. Being that loud is stupid no matter what the circumstances are.

"Unbelievable," the first guy growls.

A smaller male voice starts begging. "Please, please!" He sounds scared and the level of desperation in his voice is all too familiar. It's coming from the person being helled by the first guy.

"Don't hurt me. Please." The sound of crying gets louder, more pathetic.

First guy's shoulders shake slightly. A small chuckle. Squinting through the window he pays extra attention to his body language. The way he's standing is cocky, arrogant. He's one of Those. He's saying something that he can't make out.

Carefully, he slips through the half open metal door to get a closer look. He stays close to the wall where the shadows are and slowly makes his way across the concrete wall. There's a few concrete support beams to the left. He silently hides behind one. The view is much better.

Far enough away that he can stay out of the direct line of sight, but close enough that he can effectively intervene if he decides to do so.

"So pretty," he hears and he feels hysterical laughter bubble up in his chest, because are all rapists this stereotypical? He's almost tempted to kill the man for his lack of originality.

From this angle the guy being held by his hair is still mostly hidden behind the first guys body. He waits. He needs to see what he's dealing with.

"I don't know why you fight me," says the first guy. He tugs on the seconds guys hair, pulling him more in front of him and finally he gets his first good look at both of them. First guy is average. Average height, typical dark hair, thin face, thin mouth. The second guy isn't a guy so much as a child. He looks like a teenager. He's anything but average with bright orange hair, round high cheek bones and those lips...

Shit. No wonder he'd been targeted. He was beautiful. He was the epitome of every perverted man's fantasies. His body was lithe and he was a few inches shorter than the first guy. The perfect weak body to fill the hole that the lack of women created. What had the Yelling Guy called him?

He thought for a second. Taemin. He thought about it a few more seconds. At least, that what he'd thought he'd called him. It's not like his name was important.

His life, though... He'd made up his mind. Silently, he made his way back the way he'd come. He leaned down and pulled the concealed blade from his right boot. Then, with his free hand he used all of his strength to slam the metal door closed. The screeching and booming sound it created was so loud that he winced, knowing better.

It was the perfect distraction, though and he slid back a few feet, blending in with the shadows. He could clearly see the first guy from his position and he was facing the direction of the door. He looked startled. Good. He took two more steps back for good measure.

"What was that?"

The voice didn't come from First Guy or the kid. He couldn't see the whole room, so he didn't know rather just one of the other guys had come back or if it was both of them. He didn't care, though. Stealth was one of his specialties.

"I don't know."

That was First Guy.

"Well, go see."

"You go see."

A groan. "For fucks sake," First Guy says. "It's just the door. Speaking of, didn't I tell both of you assholes to close the door when you go in and out?"

Oh, so first guy wasn't as brainless as he'd first assumed. Woopty-fuckin'-do.

It was silent for a few minutes before he heard a shuffling of feet. He tensed as a human shaped silhouette stretched across the wall by the door. Forcing himself to relax, he purposely loosened the death grip he had on his blade. Breath, and focus. He let the mantra repeat in his head, even as first guy started walking forwards.

Not Brainless Guy, was actually going to die, because he was doing something smart. He was checking that the door was secure. He didn't have a chance in hell. In three swift motions, he's crept up behind him, wrapped his hand around his mouth and swiped his blade across his throat. He tightens his grip on the man's mouth, effectively muffling the gurgling sound he makes.

It takes an average of six to eight seconds for a human being to die like this. He isn't disappointed. He sets his body up against the wall, only partially hidden in the shadows. He doesn't wait for the second guy to come searching for him, but just in case, he knows it'll be an alternative short term distraction. Not that he needs it, because he plans on attacking the second guy head on. It isn't smart or nearly as effective, but he doesn't care.

This is where the 'slightly unhinged' comment comes in. He likes the adrenaline rush he gets from staring a target down, or in this case, startling the hell out of him. So it is just one guy. He's smaller than he'd originally thought, but not as small as the kid. He wonders if this one had plans of also violating him. The guy is holding on to the kids arm and it's a pitiful sight. Taemin is sniffling and his cheeks are wet with fresh tears.

His cheeks are also slightly muddy and he wonders when the last time he had a chance to clean up was. He wonders how long he's been here. Because of his reaction to the first guy, he doesn't think it's been that long and he also thinks that he's also never been violated. Well, penetrated. He's sure the son's of bitches had ran there grubby little fingers all over him.

"W..who are you?" Second guys asks, and the kid's eyes widen when he sees him. He doesn't have to look down to know that he's noticed the blood on his hands and the blade he's holding. It takes a few seconds longer for Second Guy to notice. When he does he stumbles back a step, yanking the kid with him, which almost makes him trip, because he's shorter than him.

He can't help it. He grins widely and takes a step towards him. "What's it to you?" He calmly asks and he knows that the tone of his voice and his manic expression is horrifying. He hopes he pisses himself.

"What did you do?" He demands and he'll admit, the strength behind it impresses him... a little.

He looks down at his hands and allows his smile to fade slightly. When he looks back at the man he says, "I had a little accident." He smirks and widens his eyes in a sheepish manner. "Well, not me exactly. More like..." The mask falls away returning to his normal impassive expression, because he's bored with this game. "I just killed your friend."

The guy and the kid visibly flinch.

"Now, why don't you just let him go..." He tips his head towards Taemin. "...and this can go in a whole different direction for you." If there was ever a time to pull a gun on someone he'd think now would be it and since the guy doesn't, it means he probably doesn't have one. Another stupid mistake. Always stayed armed.

Rather it's a simple blade or a long range weapon. Either is an effective tool to keep you one step further away from your attacker, human or otherwise.

Second guy is visibly shaking now. His mouth opens, then closes. He looks at Taemin.

He uses that moment of distraction to close the distance between them. Second guys jolts and lets out a little squeak as he shoves his blade in to his stomach. He keeps stabbing him until his legs buckle, then he pulls the guys head back by his hair, a silent Ode to how Taemin has been treated, to slit his throat. This time, there's more light and he can clearly see the blood that starts oozing out of the wound. He turns away from him and lets the body fall forward to look at Taemin.

He's fallen to the ground and is scooting backwards away from him. His eyes are wide and he looks like he wants to scream, but thankfully he doesn't. He sighs in annoyance as he starts begging.

"Please don't hurt me. I..."

"Kid," he says, cutting him off. "There's still one guy left and I'm pretty sure that's your friend back there." He gestures behind him with his head.

Taemin freezes at that. His bottom lip starts wobbling, but surprisingly he doesn't start crying again. He sniffs a few times before he says, "J..Jonghyun... he's..."

"Stay here," he says, then turns towards the opening that the other guy, Jonghyun, had been dragged through.

/

The last guy dies like the first, his throat slit from behind. He lets him fall to the ground immediately, not bothering to muffle the small, pathetic noises he makes as he bleeds out. As he lets him go, his eyes meet with Screaming Guy, Jonghyun's. There's fire behind his expression, but it's not from anger. It's from that deep, twisted part of a human being who enjoys seeing someone whose wronged them suffer and die. It's a silent thank you for killing the son-of-a-bitch.

That one look is all it takes for him to know that he's nothing like Taemin. Although, from his emotional display earlier, he knows he's not like him either. He still cares about things other than just survival.

Jonghyun's wrists are bound together over his head by a chain on the wall and there's a bandanna tied around his mouth. He carefully and silently watches him approach. When he removes the bandanna, the first question out of Jonghyun's mouth is, "My friend, he's..."

"Taemin."

Jonghyun gives him a questioning.

"I heard you yell it. He's fine. In the other room."

"How is he?"

What he really means is 'has he been violated?' "He's fine. Safe," he says. The chain on Jonghyun's arms is being held against the wall by a simple, but effective metal clamp. He reaches over his head to unsnap it. Jonghyun lifts his head to look directly in to his eyes when he tells him his name.

"I know your name already. Taemin told me." The clamp is easy to open and Jonghyun lowers his arms and breaths a sigh in relief. With out the clamp holding the chain tight it's easy for him to roll his wrists around and get it off.

"What's you name," he asks.

He makes a face at the sudden humor in Jonghyun's voice. His expression looks like it's a second away from grinning at him and he can't figure out what's supposed to be so funny. Taking a step back, he ignores him and turns to go back the way he'd come. There'd been a set of metal stairs leading up in to another room and he wants to check it out before he leaves. As he starts to walk away Jonghyun is quickly by his side, excited energy a palpable thing as he follows him.

Taemin is fidgety when they come back in to the room and he jolts when he first sees them. As soon as his eyes catch Jonghyun a huge smile breaks out on his face and his slumping shoulders visibly straighten. Jonghyun quickly crosses the room and pulls Taemin in to a hug.

Rolling his eyes, he keeping walking and heads for the stairs. They start out by the way and slowly curve around, so as he goes up them he's surrounded by metal and concrete. The design is strange and he goes up them as quickly as possibly. It's a bad place to get trapped at if they were to suddenly be attacked. The room he enters is a small office and it's surprisingly organized.

There one large desk directly in front of him and a smaller makeshift desk to his right. There ledgers on both and even a few paperbacks. There's also a small filing cabinet sitting on top of a black safe. He never wastes time on trying to open things with locks any more difficult than he can open his just his fingers, so he ignores the safe and starts opening drawers. There's nothing useful in the first one.

In the makeshift one he finds a few paperclips, some batteries, and a envelope opener. He takes all of them and opens the filing cabinet. It's completely empty, not even empty folders connecting to the small metal bars inside. Not bothering to close it back he leaves the room.

/

As soon as he starts to leave he regrets saving Taemin and Jonghyun, because both of them are strangely bubbling with excited energy and they keep following him. He'd left the backpack he keeps his supplies in just around the corner of the warehouse when he first come upon it to check out what all the screaming was about. As he walks out with the annoying twins hot on his trail he leans over and in one flood motion spins it until the straps easily slide on to his shoulders. The familiar weight on his body gives him some minute relief until he hears giggling. Ugh.

'Just shoot them and get it over with' he thinks as he pulls a cloth out of his pocket to clean the blood off of his blade. He drops the cloth on the ground and slides the blade back in to the holster in his boot.

"We don't have any weapons," they'd said. "We don't have any food," they'd said. "You're strong," Taemin had said as he tried to touch the muscles on his arms through his jacket. He jerked his arm out of the way and glared at him. With a warning of 'Don't ever touch me," he turned his back on them and left the warehouse.

The warehouse was surrounded by a high fence. Thick barbwire is securely wrapped around the top of it and he considered just staying here for the night. It was a fleeting thought. Staying in one place for two long was a bad idea even if traveling even just small distances at night was worse. The thought of staying in a place where there'd been so much noise created made him anxious, though.

He wasn't willing to risk it and if the two idiots behind him wanted to follow him they'd have to deal with the danger. Just because he'd saved their lives didn't mean that he'd by default become their full time protectors.

/

Relief flooded him when he realized that the two following him were smart enough to get quiet when it was important. He was struck with the realization that they were smarter than they appeared or they wouldn't still be alive. With that thought securely in his mind, he relaxed a little bit more, confident that they wouldn't become as big of a burden as he'd originally feared they would when they'd started following him. There were only two good things about being in a city. Potential for untapped resources and if you were really luckily, still functioning street lights.

He lead them towards the one functioning one, careful to keep his back against a wall, not to step close to anything that had an opening under it, and he was beyond relieved that Taemin and Jonghyun fell in to close step behind him. They never lingered behind, never asked him questions. Good. If they compromised him in anyway he'd leave them behind in a heartbeat flat.

Before they crossed behind the line of houses beside the streetlamp, he pulled his small flashlight out of his pocket. As quickly as he could, he carefully surveyed under the porches, on the porches and around the bushes. He'd click the flashlight on, observe, shut it off, repeat. He'd learned the hard way that survival didn't just depend on your speed and accuracy. It also depended on having patience. Do it right the first time.

Time is never on your side, but using as much as you have to be careful is essential.

/

He'd set up a temporary camp in some kids' old tree house. It been a monumental find and he'd immediately removed the ladder that led up to it. Now, he asked Taemin to remove the rope from his bag and he quickly climbed up the tree. Taemin tossed one side up to him and he secured it tightly to the the one of the branches so that he and Jonghyun could climb up. Neither one of them had any problems getting up, which was something else that told him that there was more to them than meets the eye.

The tree-house is wide enough for them to comfortably stretch their legs out, but there wasn't much more extra room than that. It was quiet as they got their barrings, save for the sounds of their slightly labored breathing. He was more than happy for it to stay this way, but like before, the silence didn't last long.

"So," a voice said, barely above a whisper. He payed extra attention to it to try and figure out who was speaking to him. "You never told us your name." He heard a little giggle and it sounded a little further away from the first voice. So it was Jonghyun talking to him.

He sighed, leaning his head back and closing his eyes.

Jonghyun sounded apologetic when he said, "I mean, you don't have to tell us, but it's nicer knowing the name of the person who saved our lives."

"Something tells me that you two would've figure it out on your own."

There's silence for a few seconds, then, "Yeah, but..."

"You stopped that guy from hurting me," a softer voice said. Taemin.

He squeezed his eyes closed as his stomach lurched uncomfortably. The words leave his mouth before he's had time to process them and later he still can't figure out why he reveals this to them. "I know what it's like to be hurt like that."

A soft 'oh' and they fall silent again. A few minutes later, he hears a soft 'thank you'.

A unknown amount of time goes by before he hears a rustling sound, then the crinkling sound of something being opened. There's the sound of eating. He opens his eyes and blinks a few times. He's had enough time to fully adjust to the darkness and he can make out Taemin and Jonghyun sharing some kind of snack bar. Technically, a small thing like that didn't register as actual food, so they hadn't completely lied to him.

"Onew," he says and he has no idea where the name came from.

The rustling sound stops. "What?" Taemin asks.

"You want a name. Call me Onew."

He can practically hear the smile in his voice when he says, "Ok."

A involuntary smile forms on his face. Maybe their over excited energy is getting to him. Maybe it's the fact that he hasn't seen another human being for close to four months. He doesn't know. Being alone has never bothered him before. He clears his throat and leans forward, pulling his backpack towards him.

So used to doing things in near dark, he doesn't use his eyes to find the zipper. He instinctively knows where it's at, because of the position of his pack. He opens it and pulls out one of the Nutty-Butty's he's found when he'd first gotten to the city. He'd already eaten one. After he ate this one, he'd have one left, a few granola bars, a pack of questionably dated spearmint gum, and a green apple sucker. He didn't much care for green apple, but he hadn't seen actual candy in so long that he was willing to give it a try.


	2. Onew

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Onew parts ways with Jonghyun and Taemin, but it doesn't last long.

/

_Low gasps from pleasure filled the dark space of the old cabin living room. The only light being the sliver of moonlight coming in from the cracks between the boards over the window by the door. His thighs are warm from the heat of the person whose lap he's straddling. There's warmth pooling in his stomach and a tingling sensation working it's way up his spine. His eyes are fluttering, threatening to close. He's so close and yet he still can't give in to the sensation enough to completely let go. His eyes have been prickling since the beginning and tears finally start falling._

_Grunting, he tries to pull away and a hand wraps in his hair. The hand around his erection slows down, but the grip doesn't loosen. A sob gets chocked by a the gasp that leaves his mouth. "Mmm..." he moans and he grips the shoulders of the person under him. Their forehead is suddenly against his and he can smell that familiar masculine scent that he's come to recognize as a friend._

_"It's ok," he whispers. "I've got you. You're here with me. It's just me."_

_He knows and he wants to enjoy this completely. It's not that he doesn't trust him, it's that his mind does it's own thing where sex and even physical touch are involved. It sometimes throws him back in that little store where there's a hand over his mouth, more hands holding his arms behind his back, and fingers digging in to his hips, while he feels like he's being split open._

_"Minho," he fiercely whispers._

_He shakes him once, lets go of his hair to cup his jaw firmly. "Look at me," he demands._

_He hadn't realized that his eyes had closed and when he opens them he's there, in the present and Minho is smiling up at him. His eyes are half closed and glazed from arousal. He's fully clothed, because this had been for Onew and Minho was too good to him. His ridiculous mop of unruly brown hair is sticking out in different directions and he looks so good, so familiar. The look in his eyes is adoration and it makes it easier to lean down and press their lips together._

_When he finishes he has his forehead pressed to Minho's and Minho quickly pulls his face in to the side of his own neck to hold him close._

_Suddenly, there's an explosion, they're not in the cabin any more. Minho is yelling at him to run and then he's surrounded. There's is the sound of shuffling feet and growls all around and Minho is screaming and he's running away with tears blocking his vision and...._

He jolts out of sleep, breathing hard. At first, he doesn't know where he's at. The only thing that registers is that there's sunlight coming at him from every angle and it's bright. After a few agonizingly confusing seconds, sounds beyond his rapidly beating heartbeat start to filter in. Birds chirping, wind moving through the trees around them, familiar voices talking...

The night before him rushes back and he blinks a couple to ground himself. He moves to sit up and stops when his eyes catch sight of his blade. It's in his right hand, which he'd lowered to the floor to help him stand up. The sunlight reflects off of it sharply, illuminating the metal. Carefully, he slides it back in to the holster in his right boot and stands up.

"Good morning, sleepy-head," Jonghyun sing-songs when he comes outside.

The two of them have used cardboard boxes to cover the spaces between the railing. Jonghyun is laying on his back, arms under his head like he's on vacation and Taemin is sitting cross-legged, shoulders hunched over while he looks at a piece of paper. Onew frowns at the cardboard boxes, then looks questioningly at Jonghyun.

Jonghyun shrugs. "There were some on those porches we passed last night. Don't worry, I scoped out the area before I climbed down. Ya know..." He sits up and scratches his head when he continues, "it's really quiet and dead in this area. What's the deal with that? Last night, when they were dragging us through the streets, I was almost positive we were all going to end up Walker food."

He thinks about the explosion that happened that night and shrugs. "I saw some scorch marks in the back part of town. I think someone got smart and started using explosives."

Grinning, Jonghyun nods his head. "Damn straight. That's the way to go." He fist pumps. "Taeminnie, we should start doing that."

Taemin is slow to acknowledge that he's been spoken to. When he does look up, his eyes are slightly glazed. After blinking a few times, his smile returns and he asks, "What should we do?"

"Explosives," he repeats, turning to face him better.

Eyes widening slightly, he carefully says, "The only way we're using anything that goes boom is if I get to hold it. You're too absent minded. Dying in a explosion isn't my idea of fun."

Jonghyun starts laughing and patting Taemin's arm.

Onew watches the conversation with careful detachment. He still can't figure out how they're so happy. The world sucks, they'd been abducted, almost raped, and here they were, sitting in a child's play thing, with all the care in the world, like getting surrounded by zombies at any second isn't a possibility. To be on the careful side, he sits down and let's the cardboard boxes conceal his body from anything that could be lurking around the area.

/

"Yo, you smoke," Jonghyun asks him, holding up a carton a cigarettes.

Onew studies the box. It's silver, line with green. They'd agreed to do a supplies run together before they parted ways. He'd been surprised that Jonghyun had brought it up first. He'd thought he was going to have to dip out at sometime when there heads were turned.

"Unfortunately, all they have is Menthol." He wiggles the box in the air.

"I prefer Menthol," he answers.

Jonghyun grins and tosses them to him. "Just give me one pack and we're square. Kay?" He wiggles his eyebrows.

Shaking his head, annoy says, "Ok, Casanova." He can't help, but smile as he opens the carton and tosses him a pack. He shoves the rest in his pack.

They make their way through the store, it's some country-fied, bent and dent thing and there aren't very many useful things to choose from. A hand full of Vienna sausages with English writing on them. Another thing of Spearmint gum, that he immediately pockets. They find a gallon of water that after hunting down some reusable water bottles, they split evenly. There's three bottles between them.

Onew turns at the sound of familiar footsteps, and Taemin shuffles in to view. His hair looks neater, like he's taken the time to tame it and he has a Honeybun in his hands. He hears Jonghyun make a whiny sound behind him. When he looks at him he's pouting.

"I know you plan on sharing that, Mister," he says and Taemin grins at him. His lips are shiny from the icing and he holds it out to him.

Jonghyun comes around the counter and takes it. He eats the last half happily, then takes the time to toss the wrapper in the small garbage can behind the counter. When Onew raises an eyebrow at him he shrugs.

"If everyone littered what would this world look like," he asks, sounding incredulous, then he grins and Taemin lets out a little laugh.

"Babo (Idiot)," Onew says, as he passes them.

As they walk out of the store, Jonghyun says, "I was wondering what your deal is with no guns."

Onew keeps walking, growing annoyed that they're still following him. "I thought you were going your own way," he replies.

"Oh, we are. First, we need to get some weapons, which is one reason why I'm asking. Not that I expect you to give us any, but you just don't have any. Well, except that blade from last night. I mean, wow, you really did a number on those guys."

"All of them. Throats slits. You're incredible."

He comes to an immediate halt to glare at him.

Looking sheepish, Jonghyun runs a hand through his hair. "Do you not like guns or something?"

He sighs audibly and looks up at the sky.

"Another reason I wanted to ask you was because, well, when those guys left us alone Taemin kind of copied their map..."

He was still talking!

"...and from what we can tell it's supposed to lead to a bag of weapons. Guns, blades, stuff like that. We need weapons."

"Just stop," he groans as he turns to look at him.

Jonghyun makes a face and remains blissfully silent.

Taemin is clutching the plastic bag they'd used to hold their supplies to his chest. His expression is blank, but his eyes are sparkling with interest at the conversation.

"Look," Onew begins. "If it'll get you to shut up, I'll explain."

They both seems to shift forward in expectation. Ugh.

"I don't like guns, because when you shoot something it just... It's like a cowards way of killing something. When that's all you can use to save your life it creates a weakness. You need to be able to face what ever is trying to kill you up close and personal. If you can't do that, then eventually, that weakness is going to be your downfall."

"Ok?"

"Wow," Taemin says. His eyes are wide and he looks impressed. "He's like a character from a Manga."

Jonghyun giggles. "He is, isn't he."

He feels his cheeks heat and he grits his teeth in annoyance. "It was nice meeting you," he says in parting and heads in the opposite direction. As he walks, he expects to hear their footsteps as they follow, but it remains silent. He waits a few blocks until he's sure he's truly alone. The houses around him are different than the ones he's seen since last night. They are bigger and at one time they would have been painted a flawless white and the grass would have left any one of lower class envious of it's size and beauty.

Now, the paint was so old and withered it curled up from the edges. The yards were littered with trash, gnarled roots and only God new what else. Fences were warped and rusted and Onew didn't pay any more attention to them than he had to. He'd known it was quiet when he'd gotten here, but he hadn't realized just how quiet until Jonghyun had pointed it out. It made him anxious. It didn't matter, though. In less than thirty minutes he'd be out of the city and heading towards Onzul.

/

"Well, he was nice," Jonghyun said.

They're following the map that Taemin had copied. It's leading them deeper in to an even more run down, compact part of town.

Taemin scoffs. "Nice? You should have seen his face when he saved me. It was like..." He waved his arms around as he floundered for an accurate description of what he'd witnessed. "I don't know. Like, he's... completely aware of what he's doing, the effect he has on people and yet... It's like he can't help himself."

Nodding in understanding, he twirled and index finger over each ear as he said, "Yeah, he kind of had a few screws loose." He dropped his hands and shrugged. "Who doesn't, though. I mean, remember the guy with the face?"

Taemin made a face. "Yeah, but he beat you with a whip."

Jonghyun came to an abrupt halt and gave him an incredulous look.

"What?" He threw his hands out. "I was having an off day."

"Excessive," he sing-songed.

He pouted and turned away from him. They started walking again.

"Yeah," Taemin began. "Well, remember the one guy who you locked in that wash room?"

"Hey," he cried out in indignation. "That guy robbed us, and that's after he'd already kidnapped you. You should come with your own warning label."

"Hey!" He started punching his arm.

Laughing, Jonghyun tilted his body away to brace himself against the blows. "Ow, shit, that hurts," he whined.

"Shut up!"

"Here lies Taemin, Oh Princess, who is constantly swept away by hoards of unsuitable men." He laughed harder when Taemin let out a screech and plowed in to him. He stumbled a few feet and had just enough time to turn before he was tackling him.

"Ahahaha..."

/

Onew flicks the top on his Zippo closed and puts it back in his pocket. He inhales carefully, because he hasn't smoked in a while and he doesn't want to get light headed. As soon as the menthol hits his tongue a loud booming explosion echoes through the air. He flinches at the sound and wide-eyed, he slowly turns around. It had come from the area he, Jonghyun and Taemin had parted ways. He doesn't think as he drops the cigarette, pulls out his blade, and with his heart racing in his chest he takes off in that direction.

/

"Ah!" Taemin yells. "I knew this was a bad idea."

He and Jonghyun had found the weapons in a small storage room connected to an old green house. It was in a black cloth duffle bag. Before they'd had time to process Walkers had come out of no where. Unfortunately, Jonghyun hadn't closed the door before one of them spotted him and now they were trapped. Having weapons didn't matter when there were that man.

You'd get bitten the moment you tried to shoot something and if you didn't immediately get bitten, you'd get overwhelmed and then bitten.

"Taemin load the guns," Jonghyun said, bracing himself more firmly against the door that didn't fucking lock.

He immediately dropped to one knee and pulled a gun. "Sawed off double shotgun," he calls over his shoulder as he flicks it open. "Empty." He quickly finds a box of shells and inserts one in each hole. He snaps it shut and passes it over his shoulder. He hands him a hand full of extra shells.

Quickly he pulls out another weapon and makes a face at it. "G17, sawed off." He tosses it out of the bag. "Useless." It would been an awesome weapon to have, but sawing off the barrel makes it unstable and wasn't willing to risk their safety by using a gun that could malfunction at any time.

The next one is a simple compact handgun with Trigga written in a thick golden font across both sides of the barrel. "Generic," he says in approval. Uncomplicated, effective and efficient. He checks the clip, then reinserts it. He makes sure the safety is on before he sticks in in the back of his jeans. "There's also a few knives."

He sticks one in Jonghyun's front jacket pocket and then one in his left boot. He shoots with his right hand, but when it comes to blades, he has to use his right hand to hold on to his target. He'd never used a blade on a Walker, though and he hoped he never had to. He remembered how effectively Onew had used his blade on the guys holding them captive. "Man, I wished that guy who saved us was here," he said, standing back up against the door.

Jonghyun lets out a whiny sound as something slams in to the other side of the door. His voice comes out a pitch higher than usual. "Yeah, no kidding." Gritting his teeth, he pushed against the door harder. "He'd be so pissed right now, though."

Taemin 'tsked' in response. "If he were here we probably wouldn't be in this mess. This is all your fault."

"My fault!"

"Yes," he says, narrowing his eyes at him. "You're like a Walker magnet."

"At least, I don't get kidnapped every day."

"I do not get kidnapped every day."

"Excuse me. Every other day." He leaned out of reach as Taemin tried to headbutt him. "Knock it off. You shouldn't try and hurt me when we're in this situation. You're behavior is totally inappropriate."

"Ugh, this is so frustrating." Taemin marched across the room.

Jonghyun squeaked when the door strained under just his strength. "Taemin," he yelled, pushing his feet more firmly in the ground. "Now is not the time to leave me hanging. Come on. Not fair."

Ignoring him, he look out of the window and frowned. The only thing outside was a series of powerlines and he was pretty sure those didn't work anymore. Then an idea struck him. He faced Jonghyun whose eyes had gone wide and he was starting to look pale.

When he noticed him looking at him he said, "There's got to be tons of those things out there and they're all pushing forwards. If we don't get out of here soon we're S.O.L."

His face scrunched up in confusion as he repeated the American letters.

"It means Shit Out Of Luck."

"Babo (idiot)," he said, then, "I've got an idea."

"Yeah?"

/

"Il, Dul, Set (1, 2, 3)," Jonghyun slowly counted.

At 'Set', he released the pin in the grenade. He left it by the door and took off across the room. Taemin was already crawling across the top of the power lines and Jonghyun doesn't have enough time to be relieved at the fact that he hadn't been electrocuted. With his gun strapped to his back with string he always left in his pocket, he started crawling out the window and tried his best not to panic when he heard the door slowly being opened behind him. He got his feet up on the window seal and wrapped his hands over the metal of the power lines.

The grenade went off and the room shook. He gasped as he lost his balance. Thankfully, he had a good enough grip. He grit his teeth as he swung his feet up and wrapped them around the metal. He took a second to take in a deep breath and the oxygen helped strengthen the muscles in his arm.

Carefully, he maneuvered himself over and on top of the wires and they felt thick and solid under his hands and knees. He started forward and saw Taemin looking at him. He waved at him. "Go on, I'm ok." He was a good distance away from him and got to the pole before he did.

They weren't super high off the ground, but they were high enough to make them feel comfortable. He crossed over the pole on to a scaffolding ledge. It lead down in to a little wooden alcove where he found Taemin sitting cross-legged. The entire area around it and below it looked like construction had been going on before the big IT happened. They turned to look at the room they'd just escaped from.

The remaining Walkers, and there were a good bit of them, kept walking forward towards the big gap the explosion had created.

"Wait for it," Taemin said.

Jonghyun opened his mouth to ask 'Wait for what', but the words were startled out of him as a second explosion went off sending Walkers and wood chunks in various directions. When the resounding boom quit echoing through his body and he could think straight again, he looked questioningly at him.

Taemin shrugged. "How I see it is, if you hadn't of made it to the window in that amount of time, then that definitely would have been a good thing."

He let out a disbelieving squeak. "You set another grenade and didn't tell me about it," he shouted.

"Shhhhh.... Do you want them to come this way."

"You could've killed me," he harshly whispered.

"But I didn't and you're here. Stop complaining."

"Stop... S..Stop... When we get down from here I'm going to 'kill you'. How did it even take that long to go off?"

Taemin, pulled himself to his hands and knees and crawled towards the edge. "It was a timed grenade. I set it for six minutes just to be on the safe side."

"I'm going to kill you," he said, following behind him.

It happened too fast for him to process. Taemin reached the edge of the alcove and the entire section crumbled. Pain exploded through his shoulder as he landed on the something hard. A second later he heard Taemin cry out in pain. His first thought is 'Oh, shit.

Too much noise.' His vision is spotty as he forces himself up. He'd landed on a metal area that went around the support beam beneath the alcove. He crawled to the edge to try and find Taemin. He's on the ground on his stomach.

"Taemin," he whispers, hoping like hell that they hadn't attracted the attention that he's was pretty sure they had. He doesn't respond. His vision had cleared enough that he can clearly make out blood soaking through the back of his jacket. "Taemin," he whispers a little louder. No response.

"Fuck." He grits his teeth passed the pain and drops the few feet to the ground. The impact causes a jolt of pain that makes him lose his balance and he seethes as he allows himself to fall back on his butt. For a few seconds pain has him paralyzed and when he can think again, he realizes his shoulder is dislocated. This was not good.

He uses his good arm to get his gun off of his back and uses the rope to create a makeshift sling for his hurt arm. It's uncomfortable and it leaves him feeling extremely vulnerable. "Taemin," he says softly, as he rolls him over. He shakes him slightly and when he still doesn't respond, he pulls him close to get a better look at his back. The a jagged rip down the right shoulder and he can see a part of the cut through it.

He doesn't have time to properly check it over. They need to move and move fast.

/

Onew picked up his speed when he heard the sound of another explosion. He's closer than he was before, so he'd felt the vibrations under his feet when it happened. He's already passed the store that they had gotten supplies from. After the first explosion he'd kind of been running blind, because he hadn't know which way they'd gone. He'd only had the sound of the explosion to follow and that was vague since something that loud tended to echo.

Now, he was pretty sure he had a good idea of where the sound of the second explosion had come from. The streets became more narrow and the houses smaller as he hit the block. He immediately saw smoke rising in the distance. 'Almost there. Almost there.' He heard the groaning and shuffling of feet as he got closer to a surprisingly sturdy looking gate.

The top half was brick and the bottom half was made out of wood. Carefully, he peaked around the corner. There were a handful or so of walkers shuffling around and he picked up the scent of burnt rotting flesh. Something in the air seemed to change and he realized what it was the moment the Zombies started moving. They'd all been frozen.

'Slow your mind down and focus' he mentally chastised. He blinked a couple times and carefully took in the scene unfolding before him. They were all going one way. His heart stuttered in his chest as he spotted familiar blonde hair and he saw an unconscious Taemin. "Shit," he hissed and he dropped his pack off as quickly as he could.

He angrily unzipped it and dug around until he found what he was looking for. They slipped in to place easily. He grabbed a thick green shotgun shell and shoved it in to his back pocket and his lighter in his front right pocket. After closing his pack, he slips it back on his back and turns the corner just as the first gun shot echoes through the air. The Zombies have already moved so close together to one another that he can't make out Jonghyun's form anymore.

There's various things for construction around them and he jumps up on one of the tall traffic blockers. "Yo!" He yells as loud as he can.

/

Jonghyun hears the shuffling of familiar footsteps and guttural moans and groans, so he stands in front of Taemin. He wants to hold him close and shoot at the same time, but he can't do that with one dislocated shoulder. He's close to panic that it's not even funny. They're blocked in on all sides and this was a really stupid idea, even if it was their only one. Who the fuck knew that their escape would also be what got them killed?

He pulls the trigger the second he sees the rotten, protruding face of a tall woman in a long purple dress. There's a sickening crunch as one side of her head explodes. The body is pushed forward by the Walkers behind it. He lets out a whiny sound before he shoots the bald one that was standing beside her, then the blonde headed whatever they are, he honestly can't tell if it'd been a man or woman, beside him.

They all die instantly and all of their bodies are just pushed forward and stepped on or tripped over from the ones behind it. He doesn't have enough bullets to kill all of them. That's when he remembers Taemin's gun. Where was it? Dread fills him as he fires off his last shot. He glances around quickly and doesn't see Taemin's gun anywhere.

What the hell did he do with it?

"Yo!"

He jolts as the sound of another human voice. A loud whistle rings out and the Walkers pause in their movement.

"Are you hungry, you ugly mother fuckers?"

Was that...? It is. Onew. His heart leaps and his eyes start stinging with the need to cry from happiness. He wants to shout to him, but that'd be counterproductive, so he just stays still.

"Yo, Jonghyun. Wave your gun around if your still alive."

Grinning, he does it. Dudes a genius. He wants to clap his hands as the Walkers start to turn in his direction, then he suddenly feels a little jolt of panic. Just because he hasn't known Onew very long, doesn't mean he wants anything bad to happen to him. He seen him take down a person easily and he hopes those skills are as solid when it comes to Walkers.

His eyes go wide when he hears Taemin groan. He quickly spins around, drops to his knees and covers his mouth. His eyes flutter open and they look hazy. There's no way he's not in pain from that cut and he worries what other wounds he may have.

"Dude, watch out for stragglers," Onew yells.

Jonghyun gasps. He jumps to his feet and spins around. His heart is beating wildly, but thankfully there are no stragglers. There's an unfamiliar sound, the sound of something striking and his eyes go wide as white sparks start shooting out in every direction. He takes a step back and the moans and groans of the Walker closest to the front seem to drop an octave before they start hitting the ground. He wants to ask what the hell just happened, but he has to be quiet.

More sparks go off and the same thing happens to the middle group of Walkers. He can clearly see Onew now. He's standing on top of a yellow and orange traffic stopper and he's holding something small that he can make out. They lock eyes. He does not look happy.

"This is my last little bit," he says and there's malice in his tone where before there hadn't been any.

He gulps.

Theres the familiar flick of a Zippo before he sees it. Onew slowly raises what ever he's holding in his other hand, then in a quick succession of motions powder is swished forward and he dragging his light through the air. There's one spark and the rest bursts in to flames that quickly consume what ever it's on. Walkers start to melt before the left overs subsequently fall to the ground.

Jonghyun is in awe when ever the flames go out and there's nothing but four stragglers left. There's two on the left and two on the right. Onew waves one of his hands wildly in the air and starts blowing on it and Jonghyun winces. He hopes he didn't actually get burnt. Maybe if he only got singed a little bit he won't try and actually kill him.

Onew jumps down from the traffic separator and goes straight for the first two. There's a crunch sound as he punches it and the strength of the impact makes Jonghyun stand up a little straighter. The Walker looked weak, but not that weak. He pays closer attention the hand he'd punched him with. It takes him a minute, but he finally spots the unmistakable metal of brass knuckles.

Son-of-a-bitch. Who was this guy?

The first two Walkers aren't dead when he's done with them, but they're so broken that they can't move. They just sort of vibrate in place as they try to force nonfunctional limbs to work. He snaps the third one's neck, then shoves his blade through the fourth one's temple. He does the same thing to the first two before he's finished.

Jonghyun takes a step back as he gets closer to him. "L..Look," he begins.

"Save it." He looks down at Taemin. "What happened to him?"

"We both fell." He pointed his gun up towards the collapsed alcove.

Frowning at it, he says, "If it wasn't for that metal sheet both of you probably would've been unconscious." He turns back around.

He flinches as he looks at his bad arm.

"You can't carry him with that," he says simply. "Come on." He drops down and gently picks Taemin up. "We need to get out this area in case more of those things are lurking around. There's no way every living or non-living thing in the city didn't hear all that fucking noise."

/

Onew is dead set on getting out of town before they do anything. He leads them to an old two story house that's tucked behind a high fence, line with barbwire. They have to climb up a rope, which seems to be something that Onew does a lot to get in to places. He explains that usually, he never uses the bottom floor and he doesn't seem happy after he's gotten done pulling nails out of boards so he can open the door to let him bring Taemin in. He immediately nails the boards back in to the place.

Jonghyun is impressed with the cleanliness of the place. The bottom floor is completely empty. Not even any old furniture. It doesn't even have dust. "Do you like, stop through here just to clean or something," he asks as he follows him upstairs.

"Yes."

"Really. Wae (Why)?"

"Because it's a refuge. I don't use it very often and when I do I'd like for it to be clean." There's a single room at the end of the left hallway and you pass two other facing rooms on the right to get to the one that Onew brings Taemin to. The single bed is big enough to hold Taemin fine, but there isn't enough room for him and he's not ok with that. He looks around quickly.

There's not even a chair for him to sit on either. When he looks back Onew is looking at him. "What?"

"You really care for him don't you?"

"Of course I care for him. I've been taking care of him for three years."

He pulls his pack off and opens it. "I need you roll him over," he says as he starts to pull things out.

Jonghyun does what he's told. When Onew hands him a pair of scissors he looks at them in confusion.

"It's to cut his shirt off. He's dead weight. This way's easier."

"Oh." He knew that, damn it." He carefully takes the material between his fingers and snips where the rip is. It gives easily and before long he's created a long line where Taemine's spine is visible. He snips through the end of it and hands the scissors back. Onew lays them down on the bed beside him and holds up a small needle.

"Wait, are you going to..." He goes silent as he gives him a sharp look.

"You've never given each other any form of stitches?"

"Ugh... We've never needed to."

"Seriously?"

He shrugged. "Don't know what to tell you, dude."

/

After he's gotten Taemin sewed up, Onew tells Jonghyun to pull a blanket and pillow in to Taemin's room is he's so worried about him. He's still fuming by the time he lays down in bed that night. He hadn't wanted to stay here. He'd wanted to be well on his way to Onzul by now and he'd used up all of the powder he'd mixed up. He'd have to go to Onzul anyway to get more.

That shit was highly effective. When he closed his eyes he sighed and opened them again. He was really fucking annoyed. It had taken effort not to punch Jonghyun in the face once he'd seen Taemin laying there unconscious and he didn't understand why. He didn't give a fuck about either one of them, so why was he having these thoughts? Maybe it was because Taemin was a kid.

Maybe it was because Jonghyung was his Hyung and was supposed to take care of him. But the fall hadn't been his fault. Groaning he rolled over on his stomach and buried his face in his pillow. He hated both of them.

/

Jonghyun brought the three pillows he'd found in to Taemin's room and lined them up on the floor. He spread a blanket over them, then stretched across them. He spread the other blanket over him. It was more comfortable than every surface he'd had to endure the last couple of nights. First it'd been some old broken down piece of shit van, then it'd been hard clay, then cement, then the floor of a wooden tree house.

He rolls over on to his back. Onew had said that Taemin's body had suffered too much pain at one time and that's why he wasn't waking up. He'd swore that it'd only last a day or two. Taemin had not only cut his shoulder, but he'd dislocated his knee and possibly gotten a concussion. He'd always heard that someone with a slight concussion could sleep and be woke up every couple of hours, but ones with bad concussions could go in to a permanent coma if they went to sleep. He was really nervous. He didn't know what he'd do with out Taemin around him.

He'd be lonely. He drive himself insane by worrying too much. He'd fucking miss the little shit who had weaseled his way in to his life over the past three years and had become his best friend, even if there was a seven year age gap.

The only reason he managed to get any sleep was because he knew that if they needed to travel, then he needed to be at his best.


	3. Hyung

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Things... get tense.

Jonghyun wakes up to the feeling of fingers moving across his scalp. Blinking slowly, he tries to focus. He inhales sharply as he realizes that Taemin is awake. When he turns his head to look up at him Taemin gives him a small sleepy smile.

"Hey," he whispers.

Jonghyun grins and pushes himself up. He presses his forehead to his and starts stroking his hair. "Hey," he whispers back. He grows warm as happiness floods his system. "How are you feeling?"

He groans loudly.

"That bad, huh?"

"I ache every where."

Taemin is laying on his stomach and he can barely make out the shape of the gauze tapped along his shoulder blade. "How does your head feel?"

"Mm..." He closes his eyes. "I have a headache, but I don't think I hit it on anything if that's what you're asking."

Relief makes chill-bumps break out on his skin. "Thank God." It'd all been too close for comfort.

"What happened?"

"You don't remember falling?"

"No."

Pushing Taemin's bangs back, he asks, "What's the last thing you remember?"

"I... remember being trapped in that room, then... nothing."

He lets out a little laugh.

One side of Taemin's mouth quirks up. "What," he asks in amusement.

"You little shit," Jonghyun says, pressing his head more firmly against his. "You almost blew me up."

He's silent for a second and when he does speak he seems hesitant. "Exactly what did I do?"

After he explains the second grenade, Taemin nods slowly, then says, "Yeah, sounds like something I'd do."

Jonghyun closes his eyes. "It makes me sad that you could do that to me, but I understand why."

Neither one of them want to be eaten by Walkers and if taking each other out to avoid it is their only option then they'll do it. Taemin is adamant about it. Jonghyun... He shakes his head. "You scared me to death."

"Which time? The grenade or me falling?"

"Both."

They both snicker.

Taemin suddenly goes stiff. "How did we get away, though and..." He winces when he pushes himself up enough to look around. "Where exactly are we?"

He grins widely. "Onew."

Blinking rapidly, he asks, "The guy who saved us?"

"Yup. He showed up out of no where and it was awesome. There was this powder stuff that actually melted the Walkers and then he had these brass-nuckles." He chopped the air with his hands a few times. He bit his lip and his eyes glaze over as he replays the scene in his head. When he comes back to himself he smiles at the wide eyed, disbelieving expression on Taemin's face. "It was awesome."

"Melting Walkers? Now, you're just making stuff up."

He laughed. "No," he says, stroking his hands up and down his arms in placation. "I swear, it really happened. We really need to find out what he used."

Sighing, Taemin lowers himself back down to the bed.

"You tired," he asks worriedly.

"Yeah," he breaths out. I think we should talk about this in the morning."

"Ok."

Taemin holds out an arm. "Lay with me?"

He doesn't hesitate. Just reaches down and grabs his pillow. They maneuver around until Jonghyun is on his back and Taemin is curled up on his side with his head on his chest.

"See you in the morning," Taemin mumbles.

"Ok." Taemin's healthy, alive body is a comforting weight against him and it's easier to fall asleep this time.

/

The sun is just starting to rise when Onew walks in to the kitchen. He uses his flashlight to find the tea bags in the cabinet over the sink, a pan under the sink and the matches from the drawer beside the sink. It's too dark to see outside and even though there's a fence around the property, he isn't willing to risk going out until he can see everything. He pulls the small rope on the wall to open the ventilation hole he's created a few feet over the table. The table has been reinforced with metal so it doesn't catch on fire when he cooks anything over it.

He sets the pan on a small, raised metal stand. Carefully, he places an empty soup can underneath it. His cooking method requires a special powder mix, which includes dryer lent, small wood chunks, pieces of charcoal, and a stable mix of diluted magnesium. Compliments to the dearly departed. The last ingredient is the water, which he pours from the plastic bottle he'd gotten yesterday when he, Jonghyun and Taemin had went on a supplies run.

He only uses enough to make one cup and immediately reattaches it to his pack. The soup can flares with light when he drops a match in to it. Thick smoke starts to curl over the edges and it begins to funnel up and out the ventilation hole. He opens and lowers one of the tea bags in to the pot. By the time the water gets hot, it's already a light amber color. It gets darker as the temperature rises. Before long, he's pouring the tea in to his cup and capping the soup can to extinguish the fire. He pulls a small bottle of honey out of his pack and because he only likes a hint of the honey flavor, he only adds a little bit to his tea.

He uses the small spoon he keeps taped to the side of the bottle to stir it. After he cleans the spoon he retapes it to the bottle, then puts it back in his pack. He gives it a few minutes to cool off before he takes a tentative sip. He takes another sip, a bigger one this time, and closes his eyes to let the warmth settle in his stomach.

/

Early morning light bathes the room in a blue hue. The air is nippish and Jongyun shivers lightly as he lets Taemin use him as a prop. Taemin has put his jacket on and he's better with the cold than he is, even if he's much skinnier.

"Gah," Taemin shouts in pain as he takes his first step, which is actually him shifting forward and Jonghyun having to take more of his weight to keep him from falling.

"Yah!" Jonghyun wrings a finger in his ear. "Loud."

Taemin glares at him. His knee is swollen and loosely wrapped in an ace bandage.

The progress is slow as they make it out of the room. It's almost too much for him when they start going down the stairs.

"At least, you didn't break it," Jonghyun says.

Taemin growls, "If you don't shut up I'm going to break your face."

"Oi, you brute. I don't have to help you, ya know."

"Shut up. I have to pee."

They pause when they hear sounds coming from the only other room on the lower floor.

"I guess he's up," Jonghyun says.

"Ask him if we can open the door." He wiggles to emphasize his need to GO.

/

He groans in to his cup when he hears them moving around above him. Their bickering echoes though the walls as they come down the stairs and he purposely doesn't look at them when they come in to the room.

"Good morning, Hyung."

His jaw drops and he slowly turns to look at Jongyun. He is smiling at him and not smugly like he'd thought he'd be. It was soft, sincere.

"Taemin has to pee," he says. "Is it ok if we open the door?"

He can't remember the last time he'd been anyone's Hyung and he's not sure he likes the idea of being anyone's now. "Just let me go check the yard first." He stands abruptly and goes in to the next room.

/

Onew's energy as he goes by them is intimidating. Jonghyun quickly maneuvers them out of his way and the quick motion makes Taemin hiss. "Sorry, sorry," he immediately apologizes. When he looks at him his head is bowed and his face is contorted in pain.

"It's ok." He takes in a few deep breaths before he looks up at him. "Is it just me or did he look angry?"

"Yah," he says worriedly. "I think I offended him."

/

Onew once again removes the nails from the boards on the door and lays them all aside. He pulls his blade out and pulls the door open. The refuge house sits on a foundation of brick, so there is no opening for a Zombie to crawl up under it. That's one thing he doesn't have to worry about as he scopes out the perimeter. He takes a few extra minutes to try and collect himself. It doesn't work and when he does make it back to the door he's angry.

Jonghyun and Taemin had officially become the bane of his existence. He'd been doing fine on his own. It had been quiet and for the most part blissfully uneventful. Once they'd come in to his life it'd been one problem after another. What was going to happen next? He was not going to die for two loud guys who didn't have the first clue about survival.

How the hell had they even made it this long?

When he goes back inside he tells them that he's leaving. That they're free to use the house as long as they want. He has a place he needs to be. "There's food in the cabinets," he says as he slips his pack on. "Everything you need to clean Taemin's stitches is in the small red box under the bed I slept in.

"You're just leaving us here?" Jonghyun's mouth is hanging partly open and his eyes are wide with disbelief.

Taemin's expression is strangely unreadable and Onew admits to himself that there's always been something off about him. Until now, he hadn't cared enough to pay that much attention to him, but now his senses are prickling with caution. He even hesitates to turn his back on him as he walks out of the room. It's crazy to react that way to someone so small and injured, but his instincts have never been wrong about a person before. He wonders if Jonghyun has any idea how dangerous Taemin really is.

He renails the door shut before he goes back upstairs and tosses the rope out of one the hallway windows. It's barely wide enough for him to maneuver himself out of, but he always manages it with out too much difficultly. The rope is attached to the brick that separates one window from another. He tugs on it to make sure it's still secure before he climbs down to the ground. After throwing the rope back up on the roof, he climbs over the fence and starts walking.

/

Relieving yourself while only standing on one leg is not easy. After Taemin buttons his pants up he let's Jonghyun take some of his weight by leaning back in to his side and pulling his good arm over his shoulder.

"Ok," Jonghyun says. "What now, because I can't keep hauling you around. My shoulder is killing me."

Taemin blinks at him. "Your shoulder?"

"Yeah. Onew popped it back in place. I figured it would hurt worse when I woke up, but it's like a delayed reaction or something. Now, it's really hurting."

He feels guilty and a little angry, because he always does this. He's willing to sacrifice his own comfort to help him. "Why didn't you tell me that earlier?"

"You need my help."

"Yeah, but I could have peed in a bucket or something."

He wrinkles up his nose in distaste. "I'm pretty sure there's no buckets upstairs."

Rolling his eyes, Taemin sighs loudly. "You know what I mean," he grits out. When he continues to remain silent he says, "Lets go inside and see if there's any pain killers in the red box that asshole left us."

Jonghyun tightens his grip immediately before loosening up.

Taemin glares at him.

"Language."

It's an old argument that used to piss him off. Now it just leaves him bemused. When he's in a good mood he likes to see just how far he can push him until Jonghyun snaps at him. An angry Jonghyun is highly amusing.

/

It takes him an hour to get passed the outskirts of town. Another thirty minutes and he walks in to what's left of a small Farmers Market. It used to be nothing but a big open field with only small tents or fancy awnings to protect the fresh vegetables from the weather. He'd visited it once before the Apocalypse happened. Back then the grass had been green, but there had been bald places where vehicle tires had ripped through it.

That had been the norm to the circle of producers and buyers. Now, nature had reclaimed her land. Nature doesn't display the remnants of what the world has become like a town or city does. Unless you directly come upon twisted metal and shattered glass from a wrecked vehicle, find corpses or the signs of a fire, you can almost forget what the world has become. Almost.

There's a Zombie a few yards away from him and he takes a drag of his cigarette as he watches it. It's standing still, facing to the left. The smoke is harsh on his throat, but he ignores it. The cool, refreshing flavor of the menthol makes it worth it. Carefully, he scans the field.

From what he can tell, there are no other Zombies around. The grass is kind of high, though, so there's always a chance that there are others he can't see, but he has no intention of going too far. He's only here for one thing. First things first, though.

The Zombie is mostly skeleton and what little bit of flesh that's left on it's bones has turned black. It has just enough time to turn it's head and start to growl before he shoves his blade in it's skull. It's eyes dim and stay open as it goes still. Onew makes a face as he pulls the blade out. The sound the body makes when it slumps to the ground tells of just how malnourished and skinny it is.

He uses a little bit of water from his water bottle to clean his blade off before he puts it back in his boot. Once he reconnects the water bottle to his pack he heads for the tree he'd stored weapons in. He's done this enough times that when he swings the rope over one of it's limbs he lands it the first time. The trash bag he'd tied the weapons up in is securely hidden behind the thick culmination of branches to the upper right hand side. He carefully loads and stores the guns in his pack, then he takes the machete and attaches the sheath to his belt.

He rolls the trash bag up and sticks it in his pocket. He doesn't have to use the rope to get back down, so he reattaches it to his pack, climbs down the branches until he's low enough, then he jumps the few feet to the ground.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Thank you for all the Comments and Kudos guys. It really gives me the strength I need to keep going on this. I also enjoy hearing your take on the story. Like your favorite parts, and your questions and concerns about the characters. 
> 
> If you're really enjoying this and don't want to miss a chapter, I invite you to SUBSCRIBE. ^^


	4. Coincidence

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Onew continues on towards Onzul. Jonghyun and Taemin run in to some trouble... again.

The cabinet let out a little squeak as Jonghyun closes it. There are four large ones, two on either side of the kitchen sink and two small ones over it. He'd been searching for food and hadn't found any. They'd lost their little bit of supplies when they'd gotten trapped the day before and now they were both hungry.

"We have to leave soon," he says, turning to face Taemin who is examining the things that Onew had left on the table the day before.

"I know." He's picks up the tin can and gently shakes it. "There's a mix of stuff in here. I wonder what he used."

"What's it look like?" He sits down beside him and leans over where he can see what's in it. It's just looks like black dust with a few twigs in it.

Taemin hands it to him. "There's a match in it. I want to light another one to see what happens."

Jonghyun makes a face at the thought. He looks at him and says, "I think we should not. What if it blows up or something? What if he only meant for it to be used once." His eyes widen. "What if it's ignites like that dust stuff he used on the Walkers and melts our faces off."

He snorts, then starts laughing. "I highly doubt he'd use something that dangerous to make morning tea. You worry too much." He brought his hand to his mouth as his laughs turn in to snickering. His words come out muffled when he speaks again. "You're imagination is ridiculous."

"Imagination?" He scowls. "If you'd seen what I saw, you wouldn't be saying that right now. That dude is capable of some amazing, but highly dangerous stuff and I don't want to make the mistake of messing with any of it and having it blow up in my face."

"Or melt your face off."

"Oh, ha ha ha," he said sarcastically. "You think you're so funny."

Taemin's amused expression fades and he leans his cheek down on the table. "When was the last time we even ate?"

"Honeybun, yesterday."

"Ugh..."

Jonghyun didn't like moments like this. Taemin was too skinny as it was and he wasn't much better. It didn't matter about him so much, but Taemin was his responsibility. He deserved so much better than Honeybuns, beef jerky and Vienna Sausages. If he could, he'd cook for him every night. He'd make a feast and let him eat to his hearts delight.

Unfortunately, that was just a fantasy. In reality, you ate what you found. There was no way to change that fact. The first two years hadn't been so bad, but during this last year they'd been lucky to find anything. It was hard to travel when you were hungry, but they had to do it regularly in hopes of finding something. After a while their stomachs had gotten used to barely eating and they could go a long time on barely anything.

He worries that they'll stop finding anything and eventually die of starvation. He'd heard that dying like that is slow and very painful, because the body eventually starts eating itself. The image of him and Taemin sickly skinny, because their bodies has consumed their muscles and insides haunts his dreams sometimes. It's a horrifying image.

"How's your knee doing?"

Sighing, Taemin sits back up and says, "It's still swollen and sore, but I can feel a change in it. It'll probably take a week and half. Maybe a little more, before it's completely healed."

That's a relief. "Do you want to stay here for another day or two. Or..."

"No. I'm good. It hurts to walk, but I can deal with it if I have to. I saw a few shovels and some tools outside. I can file one down and use it to take my weight until I can walk properly again."

"Alright. Should we leave today?"

Taemin thought about it. He really likes having a bed to sleep on, but he knows they both need food. "Yeah. Help me outside."

/

The sound of the flowing water is calming as Onew sharpens his blade. Minho had given him a rectangular wet rock the size of his hand when they'd first met. He'd handed it to him wrapped in a ridiculous amount of multicolored random string, all of them tied in bows. At the time, he'd thought he was out of his mind, always smiling and laughing and doing dumb things like that.

"Happy Birthday," he whispers, smiling sadly. Memories of him make his heart ache, but they come unbidden rather he wants them to or not. The mind is a thing of it's own. When he's finished he puts the Wet-rock back in his pack and his blade back in his boot.

The river is narrow and forks off, one side heading towards a bigger body of water and the one he needs to follow comes to a dead end in walking distance from Onzul. He has another day of travel and he wants to make good time before it starts getting dark.

/

Taemin is sitting on the top porch step, waiting for Jonghyun to come back. He's searching the house for anything they can use as packs. It sucks being injured. Even when the world had been normal he hadn't liked to just sit around. For one, he had too much energy and for two, it made him feel useless.

His injured leg was stretched out in front of him. Even though the swelling had gone down significantly, it still throbbed if he barely moved it and it was sensitive to touch. He blinked as he spotted a Walker. It was tall, male and it's features were distorted by the huge chunks of flesh missing from it's face. The tattered shirt it was wearing was completely covered in blood that reached down to it's navy blue pants. One side of his mouth slowly curled up as he watched it approach the fence.

"You're disgusting," he whispers, enraptured by the way it keeps walking forward, even after it's reached the fence. The metal makes a springing sound as it's body pushes against it. It hasn't noticed him and it's still trying to come forward. He snickers.

"So stupid."

The night he'd woken up from being unconscious, he'd wondered what had happened to his gun and if he had it now he'd of already used it. Jonghyun felt sorry for these things, but he didn't. Once they were infected or a full Walker, he was done with them. The only exception with infection was Jonghyun, but he tried his best to avoid that all together. No infection, no body, no way to get up even if you did get infected.

/

Jonghyun nailed the door shut before he climbed down the rope from the second floor. He heard the sound of groaning outside of the fence before he got to the ground. Taemin was still on the steps where he'd left him and he was watching the Walker with interest. "How long has that thing been there," he asked.

It never fails to unnerve him at how relaxed he can be with one of those things so close to him. He hands him one of the bags he's found. Both of them have draw strings and look like something a middle-schooler will use. His is rolled up and secured to one of his belt loops. He'll unroll it when he has to.

Shrugging, Taemin says, "Few minutes." He sets his bag down beside him.

Jonghyun pats his back pocket, feeling the sheath of one of the blades that they'd gotten from the black duffle bag. There's already a blade in his boot and he has to admit that they should've been carrying some earlier. They'd had many over the years, but had always left them behind after they'd used them a few times. It really wasn't a smart habit. He wonders how many blades Onew keeps on him. The dude was something else.

Regret grips his stomach at the thought and he inhales deeply to ease it. He'd offended him. Maybe it was the Hyung thing or maybe it was caused by something else. He isn't exactly sure. It not like he'd wanted them around in the first place.

Even still, he didn't like offending people and he wishes he could make it better. He pulls the blade out and hands it to Taemin.

Taemin's lips puff out a little as he takes in the sight of it.

"It's the one you had on you when we brought you here," he explains.

"Ah." He takes it and turns it around a few times. He unsnaps the button on the sheath and removes the blade. It's small, double-sided and all of it is made of silver. There are deep floral patterns etched in to the smooth handle. "Are you going to take that thing out?" Taemin asked, motioning his head towards the Walker. "Or are you just going to leave it alive?"

He made a face. "We don't have any guns. Speaking of... Where'd your gun go? I know you had one when you crawled out of that window."

"I don't know. I can't even remember crawling out of the window. Remember?"

Jonghyun deflated. "I hate doing this."

"Just stab it through the fence. I can't even reach you."

"I know. I just... hate it."

Taemin reaches towards him and wiggles his fingers.

Smiling, he helps him to his feet and holds on to his hand until he's off the stairs.

"Wait here."

Taemin is careful to keep most of his weight on his good leg as he watches him cross the yard. The moment the Zombie spots him it goes from passive to aggressive. It opens it's mouth and it stays open as it starts pushing against the fence. It's a strange sight, because the thing doesn't start moaning like the rest of them do. Jonghyun silently watches it for a few minutes.

He wonders what he's thinking about.

When he shoves his blade in it's skull, he only hesitates for a second. Taemin thinks back to some of the things they'd done in the last three years and it annoys him that killing Walkers is still their low point. Onew had been right to say only using guns to kill them is a weakness. They could kill people with no problem, but Walkers... What was the difference?

If anything it should be the other way around.

Jonghyun pulls the blade out and the Walker's corpse slides down sideways on the fence. He turns around and cleans the blade on the grass. The sound of an engine makes both of their eyes grow wide.

Taemin almost loses his balance as he tries to turn around. Jonghyun rushes forward and sweeps him in to his arms. Taemin buries his face in his shirt to muffle the sounds of pain he's making as Jonghyun bolts around the house. His knee is now throbbing and having it bent like this makes it feel like the bones are grinding together. It feels like it dislocate again if he gets jostled around too much more.

Jonghyun peeks around the corner and Taemin starts beating his fist on his chest. "What what," he whispers harshly. His eyes are wide with fear.

"Hurts," he whispers. "Please set me down."

He does and Taemin has to literally sit on the ground with his bad leg stretched out. Even though he's scared, the pain is too much. He covers his mouth to muffle his sobs. It hurts so much and it only seems to be getting worse. The grass crunches as he leans to the the right to try and take weight off of his knee.

Jonghyun sees them pass by the house on Four-wheelers and he has to bite his bottom lip to keep from whimpering. He knows whimpering makes him seem pathetic, but he can't help it. When he's scared, he's really scared and he just does it. They hadn't escaped those guys last time. If Onew hadn't of showed up and killed the three that took them away, then there was really no telling where they could have ended up.

It can't be a coincidence that they're here. They were probably looking for their missing members. He wonders if they're going to be looking for him and Taemin once they realize they're missing. From this distance, he can't see their faces, so he isn't sure if it's one of the members that know who they are or not. "We really need to get away from here."

When Taemin doesn't say anything, he turns around and sees him laying sideways on the ground. His eyes are squeezed shut, his hands are over his mouth and he's crying. "Taemin," he says kneeling down beside him. He runs a hand through his hair and over his neck a few times. "I'm sorry," he soothingly whispers. "I know it's has to hurt. I just had to move you."

Taemin's making these small snuffling noises and they are muffled by his hands. His eyes stay closed as he nods his head.


	5. Imugi's (Ee-Moo-Gi's)

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Onew hunts for food (literally). Because Taemin can't travel Jonghyun decides to search for a way to set up some kind of defense in the Refuge House. The Four-wheeler gang that Onew saved them from, known as the Imugis (Ee-Moo-Gi's) find their three dead members and wonder whose responsible.

The fence around the perimeter is thicker than the one around the Refuge House. He shakes the gate a couple times to make sure the lock is secure. There's barbed wire one top of the fence and around the bottom of it. He'd pulled the loose string of barbed wire in front of the gate before he'd closed it.

_"I'd like to welcome you my humble abode..."_

Minho had said it when he'd shown him his bedroom for the first time. Onew hadn't known what 'abode' meant, but he had known it was an English word. He'd asked him what it meant and the answer had been stupid. 'Abode' meant 'home or place of residence' and he knew that he was just playing around, but at the time he hadn't found it funny. He hadn't felt comfortable around people, much less coming in to another man's bedroom.

Onzul was the cabin that Minho had unhesitatingly welcomed him in to.

_"What's mine is yours."_

It isn't big, but there's enough room for more than two people to move comfortably around in it. The kitchen and living space is connected and Minho's room is past the kitchen to the right. It isn't like it matters since it doesn't work, but the only bathroom is in there. Onew has always felt more comfortable sleeping on the thick orange couch in the living room. There is a backdoor that leads to the area they had trained together.

It isn't enough to just hold a weapon. You have to know how to use it. Your choice of defense can easily become the thing that kills you if you don't wield it efficiently. He stands outside the door for a few minutes. He'd tried so hard not to get attached to this place. He'd tried not to get attached to Minho, but damn it all, he hadn't been able to resist. He grips the doorknob tightly and turns it. He's home.

/

Regardless, of what Taemin claimed, he was't in the condition to travel. Jonghyun had made the choice to stay here. He'd climbed up the rope and took the nails out of the front door, so that he could bring him back inside. Once he'd nailed the boards back up, he'd taken him upstairs to the room they shared.

"We can't stay here," Taemin insisted.

He's being logical, but the look of pain on his face every time he moves just solidifies his decision. "We're not going anywhere until you can walk. Period."

"But what if they come back?" He insists.

"Then we deal with them."

"Jonghyun-ah!"

He ignores him and leaves the room. There has to be something, anything they use for defense. Besides looting the place, he can't think of a reason why those guys would come back. He figures if they were going to do that they'd of already done it at one point in time or another. But this is Onew's place.

He would have prepared for something like this? Did he even care that much about this place to do something like that? His footsteps echo loudly as he marches down the stairs. He rechecks the kitchen cabinets, the drawers, every single place he can think of, before he goes back upstairs and starts in on the rooms. Earlier he'd only scanned the closets in each room to find the bags they were going to use for supplies.

Now, he's going to do a thorough search.

/

Onew had changed from his hoody to the unattractive dark green coat he uses to hunt in. The temperature still drops as the sun goes down and he needs the extra warmth.

_"It's getting dark, though."_

_"There's still enough time to catch something. This is the perfect time to hunt."_

_"We can hardly see anything."_

_"You need to adjust to hunting in the dark."_

_"So this isn't just about food..."_

The thick black quiver is a familiar sensation between his shoulder blades. It's design is sturdy, but sleek, made to remain close to body for quick movement. The leaves crunch beneath his feet as he enters the forest. The atmosphere is calm, but not too quiet. He steps over a fallen tree branch and keeps walking until movement to his right catches his eye. His heart rate increases slightly as he pauses, listening.

He jolts in to action as he hears the sound of movement again. It's too light to be a Zombie and there's still the sound of wildlife around him, so he knows he's in the clear. Holding his bow close, he takes off in the direction of the sound. He skids to a stop as he sees it and kneels down with his bow half raised. A small buck has it's ears raised, it's head cocked in the opposite direction of his location.

It knows something is happening, but it hasn't seen him. He controls his breathing as he waits, knowing that any obvious sound, any sudden movement will spook it. He isn't sure how much time has gone by when it finally lowers it's ears and drops it's head to start nibbling at the tufts of grass at it's feet. Onew's legs are starting to burn in this position and he very carefully tenses them to get the blood flowing back through them. When his toes stop tingling, he takes a slow deep breath to calm his nerves.

His eyes widen as he starts to raise his bow. 'Just a little bit more.' His shoulders straighten as the bow reaches it's completion, the Buck in his Site. He checks his grip on the string, then exhales once, then inhales deeply. He releases the string and the arrow flies. He quickly reaches over his shoulder to grab another arrow, the first landing in the kill square of the deer's neck.

One shot is never enough. He's not as accurate as Minho. He snaps the arrow in to place as the deer jolts back. It's rears up on it's hind legs and he keeps it in his Site. As soon as it's front feet start to drop he lets the next arrow fly.

It hits it's target. A little to the left, and slightly up. Heart shot. The Buck jolts, it's hind legs sliding forward and it goes down hard on it's side. It spasms for a second before going still.

He slides his bow over his shoulder to rest beside the quiver and pulls his blade from his boot. It's eyes are closed and it's chest is falling in rapid succession as he slowly approaches it. He circles around it's head and quickly sinks his blade in to the space beneath the back of it's skull, severing the spine. It immediately sags and he knows he's got dead weight.

_"Jinki Hyung, good job."_

_"Stop calling me Hyung and what are you talking about? I had to shoot it five times to get it down."_

_"But you hit the kill square. That's prodigy material if I ever saw it. You're my legacy. Stop insulting me."_

_"I'm sorry."_

_"Stop apologizing to me."_

_"Gah!"_

He removes a spindle of black cord from his pocket and starts weaving knots until he's satisfied that they're sturdy enough to hold the Buck's weight. There isn't much meat on it, but something is better than nothing when you haven't eaten in a while. He makes it back to the cabin as the sun drops below the tree tops. He retrieves his pack and slides it over his shoulders. Having the quiver beneath the bulk of his pack may look uncomfortable to some, but it isn't. He has everything he needs should anything happen to make him need to leave.

That's important to survival, therefore, essential.

/

"Taemin." Their bed had been empty when he'd come back from searching the other rooms. "Taemin," he calls again. "Where'd you go?" Nothing. He knows their safe here, but he can't help, but get anxious when he can't find him. "Taemin," he calls, louder this time. Still nothing. "Damn it, answer me!"

"I'm in here." His voice echoes through the wall and outside the door.

Grinding his teeth, Jonghyun goes back in to the hallway. He looks around and huffs out a frustrated breath. "Where are you," he demands.

"In the assholes room."

He goes to the end of the hallway and opens the door. Taemin is sitting on the floor, his injured leg straightened out in front of him, his other leg bent. He's leaning against the wall and he's holding a shotgun. Jonghyun's eyes go wide as he sees it. He blinks, takes in the flipped mattress, then shakes his head in disbelief. "Where the hell...?"

Taemin ejects a shell from the gun and holds it up for him to see. "I was just sitting there, alone, bored out of my mind," he teasingly drones. "And I starting thinking." He smirks.

"Brat."

His smirk remains as he rolls his eyes. "Like I was saying," he continues. "Onew strikes me as the type of guy to always be prepared to pick up and leave at a moments notice. To always be prepared. When you really think about it, he never said that he doesn't use guns at all."

"He just said that you need to be able to kill your enemies head on. He said he doesn't like guns, but absolutely did not say that he doesn't use them. It only makes sense that he'd keep some around. Just in case, and where do you think he'd keep a gun, just in case?"

"His bed." Jonghyun stomps his foot. "Why is it that you think of these things and not me," he whined.

Taemin laughs. "Because I'm awesome."

"But I'm awesome to."

"Of course you are," he praises. "But more when it comes to parental things. Like, making sure I'm warm and fed and stuff."

"Oh, ha ha. You are not my son." He deflates and sits down next to him.

"Of course, I'm not your son. I'm too cute to come from your genes." Taemin reinserts the shell and holds the gun out towards him.

He scoffs and if he didn't feel so crappy he'd totally take offense to that statement. "I don't want your pity weapon," he says, pushing it away.

He laughs as he crosses his arms and starts pouting. "But I need you to help me out. I'm injured, remember?" He wiggles the gun and with a sigh Jonghyun takes it.

/

He makes a fire and skins the deer as quickly as possible. He lays a small portion of meat aside and goes to get the wide bottom pot from the kitchen. It's always located in the second cabinet to the left. He pulls it out, then grabs a few random cans of vegetables from the top of the refrigerator. It's only after he's opened them that he find out what's in them.

There's sliced potatoes and sweet peas. He is a beef person and the bitter taste of wild game had taken him a long time to get used to. Vegetables always help mask that taste to some degree, so he doesn't complain about any combination, so long as there is one. Plenty of juice came from the cans so he doesn't have to waste his water to fill it up more. First, he cooks the meet on a stick, then he adds it to the pot and sets it on the metal rack he's assembled over the fire.

As he waits for it to cook he starts scraping the remnant skin off of the Buck's hide. It's not like he'll need to use the hide for anything any time soon, but he know's he'll use it for something eventually. If he doesn't get it taken care of soon it'll start to rot.

/

Chulmoo pulls his face cover up more securely over his nose to block the stench of death. He along with the other two members of the Imugi's (Ee-Moo-gi's) are silently taking in the sight of their three murdered members.

Geonwoo, Joonsuh and Jihoon had sent word that they were bringing in a potential new recruit and something special, but they'd never made it. Wonshik had sent Chulmoo, Donyul and Munhee out to investigate and this was what they'd found. Geonwoo's body was slumped by the front door with his throat slit, Joonsuh had multiple stab wounds in his chest and stomach and his throat had been slit, and just like Geonwoo, Jihoon had his throat slit.

"You think more than one person did this," Munhee hesitantly asks. His words are muffled by his mouth piece. He shifts his gun on his hip as he looks back down at Joonsuh's body.

He hadn't really cared about Geonwoo who was the biggest pervert he's ever seen, but Joonsuh and Jihoon. They'd been the exact same age, young and were rarely seen apart. They been the mood makers, mostly by fumbling their way through the day. They'd been fools, but in an amusing way. They also been disgustingly kind and the only thing that had kept them alive with in the Imugi's was their unquestionable loyalty.

If any of them were ever to be taken out, they'd wanted it to be in a rain of gun fire. The honorable way. But this... Neither of them deserved this.

Dongyul knelt down and ran his fingers over the dirt beside Joonsuh's body. "There was another person here. Someone much smaller. Makes me think of a child..." He hummed. "A little bigger. A teenager, perhaps."

Chulmoo glared at him. "There's no way a child did this."

"Teenager," he clarifies.

He glares at him.

"There's a set of boot tracks here," Munhee says, pointing to them. He turns around and there's a clear trail of the same boot tracks leading back and forth from the front door. "Above average height for a Korean."

"So they're not Korean?" Chulmoo asks.

Munhee sighs. "I'm saying, who ever they are, they're bigger than both of us." There's no reply to that. His smirk is hidden behind his mouth piece.

Dongyul stands and heads for the room they'd found Jihoon in. "There are some chains in here," he begins and the others start following him. "Since Geonwoo's message said he had a potential new recruit I'm guessing the chains I found in here belonged to them. It doesn't explain the third person, though. It isn't like some random guy would just show up, kill these three and take some random stranger."

"Actually, it's completely possible," Munhee states.

Chulmoo and Dongyul stop to look at him.

"I mean, what if this random stranger just took the guy he saved along with him, because... I don't know, that's a normal thing to do when you save someone."

"But why would a stranger rescue someone they don't know?" Chulmoo growls. "It doesn't make sense."

Munhee snorts. "Believe it or not, there are some people out there who actually care about people they've never met."

"Shut up, fool," Dongyul says, crouching down beside Jihoon's body.

Munhee rolls his eyes. He watches as Dongyul touches a set of those boot tracks. "Who ever this guy is, he's cold. That's another reason why it doesn't make sense for him to just rescue some stranger."

Munhee raises an eyebrow when he looks up at him.

"You know," he begins, standing up. "You're eyes are spectacularly freaky looking in this much darkness. What did you say was wrong with you again?"

He glares at him. It's not that he has a problem with having Heterochromia, but this asshole's way of being so benignly arrogant pisses him off. "Fuck off," he says sarcastically.

"Would both of you just shut up," Chulmoo snaps. "The three of them came here for weapons. Since I don't see the bag anywhere, something tells me they never got the chance to retrieve it. We'll get rid of the bodies and stay here for the night..."

The pitch of Munhee's voice raises slightly as he says, "Like hell we will." At his questioning look, he clarifies. "Death, carnage."

His expression doesn't change.

"Aish." He sighs loudly. "Are you really that stupid?"

"Who are you calling stupid, motherfucker."

"Aw, he used a big word."

"What he means to say," Dongyul cuts in. "Is that the Infected are attracted to the smell of blood and carnage. It would be dumb as fuck to stay here."

Munhee shakes his head slowly. "You're like the biggest dumb ass in the world."

"Why you little..."

They eventually decide to find another place to stay the night. There's just enough light left for them find a suitable apartment a few streets over. Luckily, Dongyul and Munhee know this area of the city, because Chulmoo is officially the worst leader in existence. They park their Four-wheeler's close to the entrance, facing forward, in case they need to make a quick get-away.


	6. A Day Of Sundry

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Onew gets a visitor, Taemin is bored, Munhee's leader is an idiot.

Jonghyun is asleep upstairs. The pain in Taemin's knee has dulled significantly since yesterday, but the inability to move around as much as he wants is making his whole body ache. Hunger is also a huge factor. He can't stand to lay down any more, so he's downstairs going through the cabinets. "Something," he keeps whispering as he searches through them.

He knows there isn't any food, because both of them have already been through them more than once. Doing random, useless things is a habit he's picked up to keep his mind occupied when there is nothing else to do. Even though, time didn't really matter these days, it still existed and he feels like if sits still too long he'll lose his mind. He's also angry that he got hurt in the first place. It shouldn't have happened.

Him being injured is a burden on both of them and he doesn't like being the reason that Jonghyun is in danger. If he wasn't injured they'd have left this place already and it wouldn't feel like it was just a matter of time before everything went to shit again. He's angry at the situation. He's angry at himself. His injury makes him feel weaker than he already is.

Jonghyun's called him stubborn on more than one occasional and he isn't wrong. He doesn't care how much it hurts when he heaves himself up to kneel his good knee on the sink, so he can get a better look in the cabinets over the sink. Inside is an old yellowing container of salt and he makes a face at it when he realizes there's American writing on it. He'd studied English a little bit in school, but had never been considerable good at it. It may of had something to do with the fact that he'd only had one semester of it before the day came when school was a thing of the past.

He pushes the container out of the way and winces as his bad leg bumps against the counter. Gritting his teeth, he reaches further in the cabinet. Glass clinks, he's not sure what he's touching, as he feels around in it. Paper, which he makes a face at and shakes his hand. He stops when something sharp pokes his knuckles. His fingers fumble around a box with plastic on it. Being careful to keep his balance, he pulls it out and jackpot!

It's a pack of Menthol cigarettes. Gritting his teeth past the pain, he maneuver's around until he can get his good leg down on the floor. He sighs in relief when he's upright, then he limps over to the table. There's a discerning weight with in the pack of cigarettes and he hopes with all his might that it's from what he thinks it's from. Tentatively, he opens the top and yes, it is.

There's a half pack of cigarettes left and a red lighter inside. He smiles and wiggles happily at his lucky find. "Cigarettes are bad for you, Taemin," he says, mocking Jonghyun, as he lights one up. He rubs his throat as the first bit of smoke burns it's way down. It's been a long time since he'd smoked.

Mostly, because they hadn't had any. He exhales and his scalp starts to prickle. "Cursing is bad, Taemin," he continues to mock. "Yes, Umma." Jonghyun always says things like that to him, because as Hyung, he feels obligated to, but he was definitely not his mother. Jonghyun curses and he smokes, so Taemin constantly calls him out on it.

Taemin shakes his head slowly. He's a funny guy. Always has been. It's one of the reasons they get along so well. He keeps him grounded.

The bench squeaks as he shifts his weight to get more comfortable. The next drag makes his scalp tingle more, then he widens his eyes as he starts to feel light headed. "Whoo..." At least, he can say that he's not addicted to cigarettes.

/

Chulmoo takes in the scene before him. The room that had held the weapons they were supposed to pick up is nothing but a hole in the wall. They can see inside the house the room had been connected to. Motionless infected are strewn about, which wouldn't be so disconcerting if it didn't look like they'd been doused in acid. Melted body parts lay in heaps, all piled on top of one another.

"What the hell happened here?" He says, his voice coming out barely above a whisper.

Dongyul ignores him and steps over a heap of remains. He's spotted something.

Munhee watches him carefully as he leans down by a pile of boards.

"It's a gun." He holds it up and it's a small black pistol. Looking around, he says, "There are no fresh bodies here, but..." He steps overs the boards and kneels down. "There's blood here."

"If there were people here, then how did they escape," Munhee asks. He makes a clicking sound with his tongue.

"Wonshik needs to know about this," Chulmoo says shakily.

"You think it's another gang or something?"

Donyul hands Chulmoo the pistol. "What now?" He asks.

Chulmoo tucks the gun in the back of his pants. "We need to find out who killed Geonwoo, Joonsuh, Jihoon." His eyes are wide as he runs his hand down his face. "Do you think the same guy did this?"

Munhee shrugs. "It's possible. Someone needs to tell Wonshik what's happening, though. We can't just go back with nothing, but he needs to know."

"I'll go," Dongyul says. He adjusts the black clothe on his neck until it on his head. He wraps the bottom piece around his mouth and secures it. "I'll come back when I can."

Groaning, Munhee turns to watch him walk towards his Four-wheeler. "Don't leave me with him," he dramatically begs.

He chuckles and swings his legs over the seat. "Try to keep him alive while I'm gone."

Narrowing his eyes, he watches him start the engine and back out. When he faces Chulmoo he's glaring at him.

Munhee sighs. The days are getting hotter and this get-up he has to wear is making him sweat. His hair is a mess and it's greasy. His face is starting to break out. "I hate you," he says to him.

"Likewise."

"So, exactly what do you have in mind," he asks sarcastically. "Do we go through every building in the town? Do we just go through random streets?"

Chulmoo bristles. They both know he's not a tracker. Dongyul is the tracker. Unfortunately, Chulmoo is the leader and Munhee is a new recruit, so it's not acceptable for either of them to go back to base. They'd had a job to do, but since it had been royally screwed to hell, someone had to be held accountable for it. "We're going to set up Base-camp. We're going to scope out the area. Wait for Dongyul to get back."

"What? Are you kidding me? That could be like a week or more from now?"

"Do you have any other ideas?" He demanded.

Oh, he had ideas, alright, but they would have to wait. "Not at this moment, no."

"Then stop being a whiny bitch and listen to me."

He scoffed.

"We're going to stay in the warehouse..."

His eyes widened and he felt like screaming. Was he serious?

Raising his arms, Chulmoo said, "If we get rid of the bodies, check the doors, and there's a fence. We should be fine."

"But most of the warehouse is sealed off or blocked off. There's only two ways out and one is if you crawl out of a window, which is too high to reach. What if we get surrounded?"

"I don't think that's going to be a problem. Have you seen any infected in this area?"

Munhee waved his hands around wildly. Infected were literally laying a few away from him. Well, what was left of them.

"Those are dead," he states, nodding.

"Ah! Then where did they come from? Did they just randomly materialize? No."

"They came from a large group. Hell, this is a large group. There could be a bigger group."

"Have you heard any noises from a larger group?" He asks. "Wouldn't you hear it if there were that many walking around?"

He throws his hands out in exasperation. "It won't matter if you hear them or not. They'll swarm the area and you'll be dead faster than you can think."

"Then where do you think we should go?"

He smiled sweetly. "Follow me."

/

Onew waits until morning to dispose of the deer remains. He travelled a good distance away from the cabin and buried it. It's when he's on his way back that it happens. An explosion echoes through the air and he drops down to one knee on instinct. It takes him a few seconds for realization to set in.

"No," he breaths out. He takes off running and slides to a halt. Onzul is on fire. Thick, orange flames are rolling out of the windows and the porch stairs are shattered from the impact. His eyes are wide and he can't process what's happening. He can only think 'how' 'why' 'no no no no!'

His eyes are stinging with unshed tears when he catches movement by the treeline. A figure is standing there, clearly watching him. Their face is wrapped in black garb, they are wearing all black with a thick black belt and black boots. The metal from their blade shines brightly from the sun. Onew unsnaps the machete from his side as they turn away from him.

He takes off after them. When he enters the forest they're waiting for him. Rubbing his eyes with his free hand he takes a step towards them. They turn to face him. He can barely make out their eyes, but from what little of them he can see of them, they are a bright shade of blue. He has the fleeting thought that maybe they're American.

It doesn't matter what they are right now, because he can't think beyond the rage that's boiling up inside him. It's the only thing that's keeping him from sinking to his knees and dissolving in tears. The only thing that registers before they attack is that they're as tall as he is. He swings his blade up and the vibration from the block vibrates through the handle of his machete. Gritting his teeth he swings a punch towards their stomach.

They pull back and avoid it and he swings the machete forward, which they also avoid. "Who the fuck are you," Onew growls.

They ignore him and raise their blade again. Their stance is strong, grounded, uniformed. Ex-Military perhaps. The power exuding from them as they rush at him is enough to make Onew take an involuntarily step backwards. He barely blocks their attack and the impact once again vibrates through the handle.

Damn, their strong. He kicks out and his boot barely brushes their pants leg before they're stepping out of reach. Taking a deep breath, he extends his left leg behind and raises his blade. He blinks his eyes, then widens them. He takes in their posture, the efficient way they're holding their blade, the way they're looking at him. They aren't glaring like he is.

Their eyes are sparkling and he's taken back when he realizes that they're amused. They just blew up his home and now they're mocking him. He knows he shouldn't let anger fuel a fight, but this time he can't help himself. Holding that much anger in would only make him shaky, so he lets it fuel his next swing and it's a relief when he feels his target have take a step back to brace himself. He swings his head forward and his target lets out a grunt of surprise as his headbutt connects.

They take a few steps back and he smirks as they square their shoulders.

_"Don't get cocky, ever."_

He groans and tries to rein himself back in. It's true that anger makes you messy. It makes it easy to make mistakes. It's very hard to look at his target and think. He just wants to attack and chop them in to little pieces.

Branches snap under his boots as he grinds them in to the ground. They circle each other. His target moves too fast and he doesn't have enough time to react. They plow in to him and his blade flies out of his hand as he goes down hard. He growls as they climb on top of him. They don't have their blade, which confuses him.

The strength they have as they pin his arms over his head is incredible and panic starts to set in. He starts bucking his hips as they straddle him. "Get off me," he yells.

"Jinki," Minho's voice says and no, now he's hallucinating, because Minho's dead and this guy is on top of him.

His vision is starting to cloud with tears and he starts shaking his head from side to side.

"Jinki," Minho says again.

"No no no no..." Tears start falling down his face. "You're dead. No. Get off of me."

Images of Minho start flashing through his head. Minho wearing a black snap back, carrying a baseball bat over his shoulder. Minho trying to feed him the first day they'd met. Minho laughing at him when he'd slipped in mud. Minho leaning towards him. The feel of his lips on his and no it's too much.

The guy on top of him lets go of his hands and hastily unwraps the garb on his face. "Onew," Minho says soothingly. "Focus. It's me. It's just me."

He's shaking as he takes in Minho's face. His strong jaw line, his deep set eyes, his eyes... They are bright blue and in his current state of mind, the sharp contrast to his dark skin is horrifying.

"Jinki," Minho commands. "Snap out of it. Look." He brings his hands up to his face and holds them there. "It's really is me."

Onew jolts at the contact. At first he can't move, his muscles tense and he can't process what's happening. He thinks he's gone insane. Minho remains still as he watches him. He can't feel his hands because he's wearing gloves.

Slowly the warmth from Minho's face filters through and he takes a shaky breath. "Y..yyou...," he stutters. He runs his tongue around in his mouth to moisten it. "It's you," he finally gets out.

Minho's expressions softens and he nods once. His voice is gentle when he says, "It's me."

"Hh... how?" He feels numb as he tries to grasp on to what his mind is beginning to process as reality.

"I have a lot to tell you." He shifts back, then stands up, offering his hand.

Onew slowly takes it. He just stands there and looks at him. Minho looks good, healthy, alive. Something in his brain clicks in to place and he swings before he realizes it. Minho hits the ground. "You son of bitch," he spits.

Minho touches his cheek gently. When he looks up at him he's grinning. "At least, I know you're ok now."

"Ok?" He says angrily. "Ok?" He wracks his fingers through his hair and wide eyed, he turns away from him. "I can't even..." He can see smoke from the cabin between the trees and he shakes his head in disbelief.

"I had to do it, Jinki."

He comes up beside him and Onew stares incredulously at him. "Why?" His thoughts spin until he comes to a conclusion. "You've been watching me."

Minho purses his lips and looks away from him. "There's been things going on and I couldn't..." He scratches at his hairline and motions for him to follow. "Come on. We need to get out of here." He steps out of the forest and Onew remains motionless for a few seconds. Still not entirely sure that this is reality, he follows him.

/

Jonghyun wakes up with a groan. His stomach is aching from hunger and it makes him feel likes he's gotta puke. He breaths through it and crawls out of bed. Taemin isn't here. He finds him downstairs laying on the floor. He has his bad leg stretched out and his good legs is propped up on one of the table chairs.

"I'm bored," he says the moment he sees him.

"Well, I'm hungry. What else is new?"

Taemin's expression changes to one of concern. "We can't keep staying here," he says.

Jongyun sits down by his head. "I know. I just... don't know what to do. I think those guys are still in the city and I can't let them find us again." He sighs and drops his head.

He's only ever like this when he's really hungry and Taemin doesn't like seeing him this way. "Why don't you go look for food and I stay here," he offers. The look he gets for it annoys him. "What option do we have?"

"What if they come here when I'm gone?"

"Why would they come here?"

This is so frustrating, because he knows Taemin's right. It's not like they've never done this before, but he hadn't been wounded the other times. If people came he couldn't fight back or get away and the thought of Walkers getting in here... He shivered. No.

He wouldn't let his mind go there. "Ok."

Taemin's eyebrows rise. "Really? That was... easy."

"It has to be done," he says. "You keep the gun. I'll take my blade. You keep your blade on you." For once, Taemin doesn't argue.

A hour later, Jonghyun has his and Taemin's bags secured to his belt loops. He uses the rope to get down to the ground. He sticks by the treeline as he makes his way to the city. At least, he knows a couple places not to check, since he, Onew and Taemin had already searched them. He heads in a direction he hasn't been through yet.

This is a city and it's pretty quiet. There has to be some kind of food around here and he's not leaving until he finds it.


	7. Resolute

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Jonghyun searches for food, Onew and Minho talk, Munhee takes his 'boss' to a safe place to camp out.

Chulmoo looks around in wonder at the place Munhee's brought him to. It's a top floor apartment. The ground floor is empty save for a rope that lead up a hole in the floor above it. They used a set of stairs to get to this floor. Munhee had secured the rope before they'd come up here.

With a smug smile, Munhee asks, "So, what do you think?"

The room has two cots up against the front wall. There are thick curtains pulled back to reveal two large windows over them. There's a large black chest against the right wall and it's full of food. Weapons of different kind hand on the left wall.

"It's... It's..."

"Impressive," he says, walking past him. He grabs a bag full of smoked meat and tosses it his way. "Enjoy." Smiling in amusement at Chulmoo's shell shocked expression, he turns around and grabs a bag for himself and a bottle of water. When he comes back to stand beside him he asks, "So, what was it that you were saying about that warehouse?"

"How did you find this place?"

He shrugs. "Didn't find it. I helped make it. I have a friend whose good at this kind of thing."

Chulmoo clears his throat and opens the bag of meat. "I have to meet this friend."

Munhee snorts. "It's possible that you might."

His eyes widen. "Really?" He moans at his first taste of meat. They are medium chunks and the flavor only gets better with age.

"Yeah. He's supposed to coming this way."

"Oh? Anytime soon?"

Munhee sits down on one of the cots and sighs. It's feels so good to be sitting down. They'd been on the move for the last four days and this was the first time he'd really gotten to take a real break. His pore delicate feet. It's going to take a week of proper moisturizing for them to return to their natural state when this is over. He looks up and realizes Chulmoo is watching him expectantly. Remembering their conversation he says, "Oh, yeah. He had something to take care of. An old friend to go see. Actually, both of them might come here. From what I hear this friend is supposed to be impressive on his own."

He sits down on the other cot and eats another piece of meat. "Really," he asks.

He sounds excited and Munhee can't help, but smile at him. "Yeah. He's supposed to be good with weapons and this kind of stuff." His bag of meat crinkles as he gestures to the room around them. He sets the bag down on the cot and picks his water bottle up to take a sip.

As he eats, he can't help, but smirk around the pieces. He so can't wait for this to be over. It's so close. 

/

Jonghyun has his blade out. It's a little bigger than the one he left with Taemin. It's a dark gray color, double edged and the plastic handle is making his palm sweat. It looks crappy compared to Taemins, but it's sharp and that's all that matters. His heart jumps when the little bell over the door goes off as he opens it.

"So much for being quiet," he mumbles as he carefully closes the door behin him. The lighting in the store is dim. The light over the third isle is flickering and he starts to sweat. He doesn't like places like this. It's hard to see and he's alone.

Anything could come out of no where. He scans the register area, then the area in front of it before he heads for the first isle. He's always worried that he won't see or hear something and it will bite him before he knows what's going on. Open and sealed cans and boxes of stuff is spread across the floor. There's an open box of rice on one of the shelves to his right and rice has formed a small pile on the floor.

He grabs the three closed boxes beside it. He isn't sure if it's also rice, but all it needs is water and a fire to cook it. There's a box of Froot Loops on one of the bottom shelves to the left. He grabs it. He sets them on the floor and removes one of the bags from his belt loop.

He unrolls it and shoves the food inside. The next isle is packed with bread and he wrinkles his nose at them. Most of them have turned either a purple or green color from mold. On the other end of the shelves is snacks. He registers that some of them are chocolate and some have cream in them as he shoves a hand full of them in the bag.

He grabs a container of creamer as he passes by it to go to the next isle. "Coffee coffee coffee," he mumbles as he searches for it. It's weird for it not to be in the isle where the creamer is. He finds it a few isles over where the noodles are. The material of the second bag bulges as he fills it with nothing but noodles.

The small thing of coffee goes in the first bag. The only thing he needs is water and he's home free. He bites his lips to contain his happiness when he spots two full jugs of it in a cooler near the far end of the store. In his current state, the weight of all of it makes him breath harder than normal as he makes his way to the front of the store.

His heart jolts at the sound of an engine. He runs and ducks down behind the register counter. The rumble sounds like it's coming from behind him and he prays that luck stays with him. "Please please don't come in here," he whispers. Sweat starts to pore down his back as he waits.

The engine gets louder, then it starts to get further away. He knows it's his lack of food that's making him react physically like this. He's so hungry and he has Taemin to worry about and all of it is bad for his health. His stomach clenches painfully and he feels like he's going to vomit. He closes his eyes and focuses on taking in deep breaths. The action of his lungs contracting actually makes him feel worse and his eyes pop open.

He grabs his stomach and leans forward. Food, he needs food. "Ugh...," he groans. Just the thought of something entering his stomach makes him feel worse. He opens one of the water bottles and takes a few sips.

It goes down his throat smoothly, but his stomach recoils and it makes him feel like he's been kicked in it. The next few sips aren't pleasant. He takes a deep breath, then drinks a little more. Slowly, the pain starts to ease off and he sighs in relief. This is the most hungry he's ever been in his life.

The disturbing images of him and Taemin sickly skinny and dying of starvation pop in his mind and he takes another sip of water. He hadn't realized he'd been shaking until it's starts easing off. His whole body seems to sigh in relief. The sound of the engine is far away now and he stands up. He snaps the cap on the water bottle and grabs the rest of his supplies. He narrows his eyes at the little bell over the door as he opens it. It jingles and he wants to shoot it.

/

Taemin is peering out the left window of Onew's room. He has a clear view of the road and he's only seen one guy on a Four-wheeler drive by. The shot gun is a comfortable weight in his hands as he keeps an eye out for any more. Unlike Jonghyun, he's does over react about ever little thing. The only thing that's got him worried, is rather the other guys had caught Jonghyun on his way in to town or not.

Why had only one left the town while the others stayed behind? It's something like an hour later when he hears a scuffling noise outside the house. On instinct, he sits up straight and cocks the gun. He points it at the door. There's a loud thunk and he tenses slightly at the noise.

Footsteps start coming down the hallway and Jonghyun appears in the doorway. He clicks on the safety and lowers the gun. As he takes in his appearance, he frowns. His hair is oily from sweat, he breathing hard and he looks paler than usual. "You don't look so good," he says worriedly.

"I got food," he says breathily. "It's in the hallway. I need to eat soon or I'm going to get sick."

Taemin grits his teeth as he stands up. He sets the shotgun on the floor and limps over to him. "Come on." He doesn't even fight him as he leads him to the hallway. It's kind of slow process, because of his injury, but they get there. His eyes widen when he sees the bulging bags of food. "Wow."

Jonghyun sounds tired as he says, "Yeah. We're going to eat good for a little while."

Taemin looks at him and he gives a little smile. "Are you sure you don't want to take a nap or something? I can fix it and bring it up to you."

"No." He walks over and picks up the bags. "You can barely walk. Besides, I'll feel better once I eat. Come on."

Taemin watches his back for a minute as he goes down the stairs. He's never seen him this bad off before and he doesn't like it. His cheeks puff out as he blows out air. At least, they have food now.

/

Minho is taking a path that they only use when they need to stay hidden. Onew still can't wrap his head around the fact that he's here. He's walking in front of him and he's alive. There's no point in asking questions right now, because he knows he won't answer. It's so easy to just fall back in to step with him. His hands are shaking and he keeps squeezing them in to fists, trying to keep himself as calm as possible. Why does his body have to betray him like this?

There have been times when he's wondered what he'd be like if what had happened to him never would have happened. Would he still freak out like he was? Would he have ever met Minho? Would their relationship be what it is? Would it be better or worse?

Would he have saved Taemin and Jonghyun from those guys? He shakes his head. Why was he thinking about them right now? They weren't important. After a while his hands stop shaking and he run his tongue over his front teeth in annoyance.

"Where are we going," he demands. His tolerance is starting to reach it's limit. If he didn't really want to know what had happened, he'd of already exploded.

"Jinki."

That's all he gets and he rolls his eyes in exasperation. He huffs and keeps following him.

Finally, after what seems like a couple hours have passed, Minho stops walking. At first, he thinks it's because this is where he wants to stop at, but as he takes in his stance he realizes that isn't it. Instinctively, his hand comes up to the strap on his machete. He unsnaps it and removes it from the sheath. As he listens, he realizes it's too quiet. He hears it at the same time that Minho does and they both turn to the left.

The sounds of moaning and the shuffling of feet are coming their way. It's sounds like two or more. The first one they see is a woman. She wearing a light pink, long sleeved night gown. Her skin is a sickly white color and her bottom jaw is protruding to the right at an odd angle. The skin under her dead eyes are saggy and they can see the red of the flesh where her eye line starts.

She has long gray hair and it's balding at the scalp. As she shuffles towards them her torso rocks with each step, one shoulder higher than the other. Onew takes a step towards her, but freezes when he hears faster footsteps getting closer. The next Zombie is a man. He has on athletic pants, no shirt and there's blood in his hair and all over his face as he runs at them.

Onew spins out of the way as it dives for him. It hits the ground and he quickly pins it down with his boot. He swings the blade down. There's a sickening crunch and a light spray of blood shoots out as it connects with it's spine. One more swing and the head disconnects from the shoulders.

There's a gurgling sound behind him and he turns to find Minho's with his blade shoved through the side of the female Zombies neck. It's still alive, it's arms dangling limply at it's side as it gags on it's own blood. He pulls the blade out and takes a step back. The Zombie drops to ground and gags as it starts to try and crawl. They both watch as it almost gets to it's knees, then drops down again and goes still.

Onew narrows his eyes at it. Minho slowly circles around it and taps it's leg with his boot. It doesn't move. He cuts it's head off to be safe and they both pull a clothe out of their pocket to clean their blades.

/

The sun is going down by the time that Jonghyun realizes that the table is fire proof. Despite his stomach pain, he still smiles. "That son of bitch is still full of surprises," he says as he watches the smoke funnel out of the little hole in the wall.

Taemin raises an eyebrow, unimpressed. "That guy was an ass."

"That guy saved our lives," he reminds him.

"So, who asked him to."

He 'tsk's' at him. "Think really hard what would have happened to you if he hadn't of showed up when he did."

Rolling his eyes, he says, "I could have handled it."

"Taemin." He purses his lips at him.

"What?" He crosses his arms and looks away from him. "What's a little bit of pain? I'm sure I could have made it worth his wild."

Jonghyun makes a choking sound. When he looks back at him he's blushing. "What?" He can't help but laugh as he turns away from him, hiding his embarrassment. "Don't tell me you never think about sex."

"Ugh, we're not having this conversation," he says, flapping his hand wildly at him.

He huffs. "You're such a prude."

"I am not and that's a little bit too much information for my ears, thanks."

"I haven't even talked about anything yet. I've never even had sex to talk about it."

He starts tapping his index fingers inside his ears as he says, "Lalalalalalala."

Taemin starts laughing at him. "You're being such a girl," he cries. "I need to talk about it sometime. I'm seventeen."

Jonghyun's 'Lalala's' turn in to 'nope nope nope's'.

Pouting, Taemin points to the fire. "Shut up and cook," he commands.

He does. Because they haven't eaten in a while they can't eat much, so they split a pack of noodles. It takes a little while for their stomachs to stop cramping after they eat, but once it does they both start feeling better. It isn't long before they begin to feel lazy, so they go take a nap.

/

It's almost dark as Minho tosses his rope up in to a tree and uses it to hoist himself up in to the branches. He secures the rope around his waist and Onew does the same thing with his own. He chooses the branch that stretches out just beneath him and a little to the side. They remain silent for a few minutes as they rest their legs. Onew is the first person to speak.

"So, are you going to tell me what happened," he asks. His anger has subsided a little, but that's mostly, because of how far they'd walked. Minho had been insistent that they keep moving.

Minho's breaths in slowly. "I know your mad at me, but I had my reasons," he begins. "That night..." He leans his head back. "We shouldn't have been outside that late."

"It wasn't worth the risk, but I..." He huffs out a breath and Onew can hear the regret in his voice. It claws at his stomach and he turns his head to look at him. His eyes are closed. "It was just ingredients," he finally says.

"We could've waited until morning. I got cocky."

"You didn't get cocky," he insists. He doesn't like seeing him blame himself for something that wasn't his fault.

"I got cocky," he repeats, more forcefully this time. "I got so used to you being by my side. Zombies always come out of no where. That's why we work during the daylight. One of them came out of no where and bit me before I ever even saw it."

At this, Onew's eyes widen. "Are you... How..." There's no way he could've been infected and still be walking around like this. Minho finally looks at him and his bright blue eyes seem to almost glow in the semi-darkness. His brows furrow in confusion.

"The evidence is right here." He points to his eyes and widens them.

He tries to discern what he's hinting at, but he feels like he's missing something. What did contacts have to do with any of this. He opens his mouth to speak, but Minho cuts him off.

"I was infected, Jinki." He turns his head away from him. "I was bitten. I felt sick for a little while. I got out of there by igniting the powder."

"The explosion threw me out of a window. When I woke up, I was in some kind of storm drain. I thought I was going to become one of those things. There were burn marks on my arms from the explosion. I kept waiting."

"I was going to wait until I felt weak and I was going to eat a bullet."

Onew's heart stutters in his chest at his words and he puts his hand to his chest. He closes his eyes and concentrates on his breaths. "That must of been scary," he says and his voice comes out lower than he'd intended. He winces and starts grinding his teeth together. Old emotions stir in the background.

His eyes started stinging again as he takes in the sound of Minho's low breathing. "What happened next?"

"I got sick to my stomach. I started spitting up blood. I kept waiting. I was hoping like hell that I wouldn't black out on my feet and just become one of those things."

"Luckily, I didn't. After about a week and a half, I started to feel better. By another week, I felt better than I ever had before. I didn't even realize that my eyes had turned colors until a month later when I saw my reflection in the mirror."

His eyes fly open and he turns his head to look at him. "Your eyes turned colors? What does that mean? I just thought you were wearing contacts."

"When have I ever worn contacts before," he asks, turning his head to look at him.

He takes a deep breath before he replies, trying to rein in his nerves about all of this new information. "So, what does that mean," he finally asks.

"It means something happened to me when I was bitten. I'm not sure what. I'm stronger, faster, and..." His lips slowly curve upwards.

Onew braces himself for what ever else he's about to say, because he's sure it's going to be a doozie. "And."

"I can see in the dark."

"Ok, now you're just mocking me."

His shoulders shakes as he laughs silently at him. "I'm really not."

"You can't..." He tugs at the rope around his waist. "How is that possible?"

"I have no clue and I'm not contagious."

He hadn't even thought about that possibility. "How do you know that?"

"I had a volunteer. I tested it."

"You injected your blood in to someone?" He makes a face at him.

"Aigoo," he says in disappointment. "Don't look at me like that. I said they were a volunteer and I meant it. I wouldn't force that on someone."

They both know it's a lie. He'd do it to someone who fucked with him in the wrong way. Hell, even Onew's infected people with Zombie blood before. He doesn't regret it. "Who is this volunteer," he asks.

The sun is nearly completely down now and Onew can clearly make out the light sheen over Minho's eyes. "Did you know that your eyes glow," he asks.

"Do they?" He smiles. "Yeah, I knew. The guy, the volunteer. He goes by the name Key. Scared the shit out of him the first time he saw them. I didn't even know they did that until he started screeching like a girl. It was one of the funniest damn things I've ever seen." He huffs out a laugh and shakes his head. "You should meet him. Well... You're going to meet him."

"Ugh..."

"What is it with you and your opposition to people?"

"You know what it is. We've had this conversation many times."

He's silent for a few minutes and Onew begins to wonder if he's going to say anything else. His voice comes through the dark and it's reminiscent of all those long nights they spent in the cabin, sharing each others space.

"I'm sorry for what happened," he says.

He closes his eyes and just breaths, because he's spent so much time missing him. So long trying to get used to him not being around. "I'm pathetic," he says.

Minho doesn't say anything. He lets him work through his feelings, like he's always done.

"I couldn't cope with you being gone." He has to force the last sentence out. "I missed you... so much." He jumps when he feels his hand touch his shoulder and he reaches up and grabs it. He presses his cheek in to it and he's glad that it's dark.

He's never been good at this. His heart is overwhelmed with old sadness and new happiness and he has to focus on his breathing as his heart threatens to beat out of his chest.

"I wanted to come back," Minho says softly. "I was afraid of what ever was happening to me. I needed to figure it out. I would never put you in danger like that."

He nods in to his hand.

They don't say anything else and eventually Minho tells him to sleep. That he'll take first watch. It's not exactly comfortable sleeping in a tree, but when he manages to fall asleep, his heart is lighter than it's been in a long time.

/

That night Taemin and Jonghyun are laying in bed. They're both drowsy, but neither of them want to go to sleep. Taemin has his head on Jonghyun's chest and Jonghyun is twirling a piece of his hair around his finger.

Taemin's voice is soft as it comes to him in the darkness. "Did you ever date anyone," he asks.

He breaths in through his nose before he answers. "Yeah," he whispers. He smiles as he thinks about his first date. She been blissfully shorter than him with long blonde hair. She'd always had her own fashion style. Kind of school girly with a mix of punk rock. She's always managed to make it look proper.

"What was it like?"

"Depending on the person, it was nice or... not."

He sighs. "That's extremely vague. Why can't you tell me things?"

"It's just not appropriate."

"Says who? We're the only ones here."

Taemin's so determined, so stubborn. Why can't he understand? "I know it's hard for you to not know certain things and it makes it harder, because you don't have anyone you're own age to talk to."

Taemin pinches him.

"Ow," he says, jolting. "Cut it out. That's not going to make me talk."

He pouts. "It could if I tied you down and did it enough."

"That's not even funny."

"Wasn't supposed to be. I'm serious."

Jonghyun sighs and turns his head to look at him. He looks so cute glaring up at him. "Why do you have to be so hard headed?"

"I could ask you the same question."

"Aish," he throws his head back. "So stubborn." He jolts as Taemin pinches him again. "Ah," he cries out. "Would you cut it out?" He stiffens as Taemin is suddenly kneeling over him. His eyes involuntarily squeeze shut as he starts leaning forwards. His lips touch his forehead, then he's suddenly moving away. Confused, Jonghyun opens his eyes and Taemin is curling up on the other end of the bed. "What..."

"I'm mad at you," he says, matter-of-factly. "Good night."

He sighs. "Taemin."

"I said good night."

As he curls up on his side, he can't help but feel guilty. If the world was normal this wouldn't be a problem. Hell, he'd have his grandmother to talk to or friends or anyone that's not seven years his senior. Confusion and doubt makes him feel uncomfortable. He doesn't know what he's supposed to do.

There will most likely never be another person for Taemin to talk to about this stuff and most especially not someone his own age. He's all he has. "Aish," he grits out. He grips his pillow hard and tries to will himself to fall asleep.


	8. Intermission

The sight of Taemin's sock covered feet instead of his familiar face when he wakes up reminds Jonghyun of the fight they'd had before they'd went to sleep. He wrinkles his nose up. Taemin makes an indiscernible noise in to his pillow as he pushes his feet away from him. "Aish," he whispers. "Annoying kid."

Remnants of that uncomfortable feeling he'd had the night before stirs in the recesses of his mind and he leans his neck to the side to work a little tension out. He remembers that they have food now and quietly gets out of bed. As he stretches his arms over his head he groans as quietly as he can in relief. Beggars can't be choosers, but the bed isn't nearly as comfortable as he wishes it would be. They'd left the bags of food in the kitchen after they'd eaten the day before.

The second one is still open and he picks it up. You can't go wrong with noodles no matter what time of day it is. After he's got them started, he digs through the first bag to familiarize himself with the things he'd brought back. "Rice, rice, rice," he says tonelessly as he sets the boxes beside him. "Creamer."

He sits up straighter, pulling the container out. "Wow, creamer," he says excitedly. It'd been so long since he'd had coffee. He quickly finds the container of coffee and pulls it out. When Taemin comes downstairs, he's already prepared noodles and coffee for both of them. He'd lucked up and found a thermos for the coffee, but they'd have to share the pan of noodles.

Taemin's hair is too long to stand up, but that doesn't stop it from becoming puffy when he sleeps. "Nice bed head," Jonghyun teases, pointing at it. He squints at him and because his eyes are also puffy it makes it look like they're shut.

Jonghyun finds his sleepy glare adorable. "Are you hungry," he asks him as he sits down beside him. It's a good thing that it's possible to move table chairs back, because the fire on the table is exceptionally warm today. It's not a big fire, but the weather's started getting warmer and the extra heat just makes anything warm feel warmer than usual.

Rubbing his stomach, Taemin nods his head. "Did you put creamer in that?" He points to the thermos of coffee.

"Yeah. Blonde, just like me." He wiggles his head, grinning.

Taemin groans and drops his head in to his hands. He mumbles something and it comes out muffled.

"Huh?" Jongyun dramatically asks, widening his eyes and dropping his jaw.

He scrubs his hands over his face and sits half way up. When he looks at him he's still glaring. "I said that joke was terrible." Grinning, Jonghyun rocks sideways as he pushes at his shoulder. "You're happiness makes me angry."

Throwing his hands up, Jonghyun says, "What can I say? I ate, I slept, I'm about to eat again. It's a good day."

"Ugh..."

They face each other one the floor with the pot of noodles in between their crossed legs. Since there aren't any chopsticks or forks in the house, they have to eat with their fingers. They've eaten this way many times and have long since gotten passed the need to complain about it. Jonghyun's lips are shiny from the juice as he grins around a mouth full.

"This is so good," he says, wiping at the side of his mouth as a little juice escapes.

Taemin, whose still not fully awake just nods in agreement. He sighs and reaches for the coffee. The bottom of the thermos scrapes across the floor as he pulls it towards him. Just as he starts to uncap it, he gets a thought. "You didn't bring back any sugar, did you?"

Shaking his head slowly, Jonghyun gives him a tight lipped smile. "Sorry. I didn't even think about it. I was too worried about just getting everything and getting back here."

Sighing, he says, "It's ok. Maybe next time." Smoke rises out of the top as he opens the thermos and he has to lean away from the heat. "Wow, how long did you cook this for?"

"A little too long," he answers, around a mouth full of noodles.

He sets the thermos down to let it cool off. His brain is kind of foggy and he doesn't have enough energy or awareness to be genuinely disappointed in having to wait for something. Clearing his throat, he grabs a small hand full of noodles and slowly eats them.

/

Onew jolts awake. His heart is racing and he's momentarily confused as he registers the rope around his waist and that his equilibrium is off. He jumps when something lands on his shoulder.

"Relax, Hyung. It's just me."

Minho? MINHO! He shakily reaches for his hand. He blinks as he tries to pull himself together. "Gg..oo..." He clears his throat. "Good morning," he manages and it comes out thick from sleep.

"Good morning," he replies, and he can hear the smile in his voice. It's annoying.

"I thought we were doing shifts. Why didn't you wake me up?"

"I'm the one that can see in the dark, remember?"

And that's... He doesn't know how to reply to that. "What ever," he says, letting go of his hand.

"We need to get moving."

"Where are we going exactly?"

Branches rattle as Minho shifts forward. He's untying his rope. Onew does the same thing and lets it fall to the ground. He unsnaps the strap he'd used to keep his pack secured on a branch beside him and pockets it. With his pack in place, he climbs down the branches and jumps the last few feet to the ground.

He backs up and watches Minho do the same thing. His throat feels dry from sleep, so he unsnaps the water bottle from his pack and takes a sip. It helps a little bit. The second time, he drinks a little bit more and it does the trick. The have a good distance to go, so he takes another drink and re-clips the water bottle to his pack.

As Minho jumps down from the tree, it's not the first time that Onew's realized that he doesn't have his pack on him. He kind of wants to ask him about it, but he trusts that he knows what he's doing, so he doesn't. "Ready," he asks.

"Yeah. Let's go."

A little while later, Onew realizes where they're going. "Why are we going to the city. I thought you wanted to stay hidden."

"We do, but at the time, I meant that staying in Onzul was like waving a big red flag."

"To who?"

"The Imugi's."

He makes a face. "Imu... What is this word about?" He asks, picking up speed to walk beside him. He leans over to look him in the face.

"Ee-Moo-Gi's," he says slowly, enunciating the syllables. "It's supposed to stand for Dragon's, but the gang who uses it don't realize that it actually means lesser dragons. Basically, giants serpents, not even dragons."

Onew snorts in amusement. "Seriously?"

He's smirking and his eyes are sparkling when he looks at him. "Would I make this stuff up?"

Shaking his head, he says, "Wow."

"So, what about these Imu... What is it again?"

"Imugi's."

"Right. What about them, now? Are they attacking people? Robbing people? What is it?"

"All of the above."

He shifts his pack up higher and rolls his shoulders as Minho continues.

"Basically, they just do what ever they're told to do. There's this prick that calls himself Wonshik. He's a real piece of work. Well, not really. He's actually as big an idiot as the rest of them, but with more power."

"I'm not going to lie. There are a few members that are worth taking a second look at, but not many. As of late, the Imugi's have been on a rampage. Grabbing up every person they come in contact with. They've been ordered to find new recruits."

Ah. So it was like that. Onew makes a face as he pulls the straps down on his pack. The slack immediately disappears and it sits securely against his body. "This Wonshik guy sounds like some kind of dictator."

Minho lets out a little laugh and says, "He sure thinks he is. He's more like a cheap version of a delusional overlord."

He smiles as the image of some long bearded man on a horse from some 'D' rated movie pops in to his head. He imagines the man barking orders in a goofy voice, waving his sword around his head while his horse walks around in a circles. Yeah. It's so not intimidating. His hand flies to his mouth as he snorts again.

He can't stop the laughter that bubbles out of him.

Minho stops walking and turns to face him. He's smiling at him.

When he can talk, he asks, "What?"

"I'm just glad to see you happy. I was worried."

He means he was worried that he'd lose it when he left. The thought sobers him instantly. "Yah!" He says loudly. "I am happy. So?"

His smile fades a little, but he still looks amused when he raises his hands and says, "Relax relax. Is that so wrong of me? To want to see you happy?"

"I'm still mad at you." He turns away from him and starts walking again. Minho's laugh echoes behind him and he ignores it.

He still sounds too amused for his liking when he calls out, "Hy-ung, wait." His footsteps are loud as he runs the short distance to catch up with him.

"Gah! Stop calling me Hyung!"

"Hyung-ah," he whines.

Aegyo? He was seriously doing that right now. He continues to ignore him.

/

Munhee is bored out of his mind. He'd moved his cot far enough from the wall so that he could look out the window. This city was dead. When he was a teenager, he'd watched a few American Western Films and he's always been intrigued by the idea of ghost towns. The sight of them had always made him wonder what had caused the inhabitants to leave.

It also gave his imagination a chance to play. He'd imagined real ghosts or other creatures of darkness haunting the decaying open spaces of the buildings that had been neglected. It had all just been fun. Now, standing here, seeing empty buildings and being surrounded by nothing, but silence was disturbing. On most days, he can keep himself occupied, so he doesn't think about it. It's on days like this, when he's alone... yes alone.

Chulmoo is an idiot. They're not friends, so his presence is non-existent. It's on days like this, when he's alone and surrounded by empty streets and no way to occupy himself that he finds himself thinking about things that he'd rather not.

"So, I think I'm going to take a nap," Chulmoo says.

He doesn't respond. The other cot rustles as Chulmoo moves around on it. After a few minutes it's completely silent again and Munhee continues to stare out the window.


	9. A Helping Hand

The sun is hotter than Onew can remember it being in a long time. He's leaning against a small fence while Minho used a crow bar to work open the trunk to some tiny yellow car. He wiped his forehead with the arm of his sweater, then takes a sip of water. His water bottle is a little less than half way full now. The metal on the trunk makes a screeching sound as Onew clipped his his water bottle to his pack. As soon as the trunk pops open, Minho pulls his own pack out of it and slides the straps over his shoulders.

"Ah," he said, smiling. "This is more like it."

Quirking an eyebrow at him, Onew asked, "So, you hid your pack in a rusted out old car, why?"

He adjusts the straps before he looks at him. Smiling up at him, he says, "I knew it would be hard as hell to open and it's a little obvious. No one would think to look in the trunk of a car out in the open like this."

"I'm more interested in why you didn't have your pack in the first place." He looks him up and down. "On that note, what is the deal with your clothes. You look like a character out of an old traditional play or Cosplay or something."

Minho smooths his hands down his shirt and up to the garb around his neck. He gives him a tight lipped smile and the humor in his eyes fades as he says, "I still have more to tell you."

"Like," he demands, drawing the word out.

He clears his throat and says, "The Imugi's..."

"Ha," he says, sarcastically. "I knew there was more with them than you were telling me. What about them?"

"I've went in to their camp undercover. My friend, Key, who I mentioned earlier. He went off with one of their teams when he heard about a new recruit that was supposed to be brought in. Usually, they don't mind anyone hearing relayed information, but this time they were being secretive. Key, being who he is, swore that he needed to know what they were talking about, because he got a weird feeling..." He shook his head.

"The crazy son of a bitch figured out that they were bringing some kid in along with the new recruit and that they had no intentions of recruiting him to."

Onew shifted uncomfortably. "These Imugi's, do they always dress like that?"

Minho looked down at his clothes, then back up at him. "No, just the one's that are worth a damn. They're considered Generals. Why?"

"Do some of them dress in gray suits and retrieve weapons to bring back?"

Minho cocked his head slightly. "Yes," he answers, drawing the word out. "Why?"

"Because I think I killed three of them and I think I know what kid you're talking about."

"Really skinny? Bright red hair?"

"It's more like bright orange, but yes."

Minho's eyes widen. "That's exactly what Key said. Wonshik sent a group in to the city to find them. Damn it, Jinki, do you know where they are?"

It wasn't that he felt guilty about abandoning them. They were annoying as hell. Hell, he'd risked his own life to save them. He deserved some credit. The thing that made him feel obligated to help them again was the fact that the Imugi's main focus was to kidnap Taemin and use him as their fucking sex slave.

He was a beautiful kid that deserved to get tons of love notes in his school locker from his hoards of teenage fans, not be hit on and felt up by horny perverted old men.

"If they're where I left them, then they're an hour away from the city. I set up a house of refuge."

"How far away from the road is it?"

He made a face at that. "Not far, but the main function is on the other end of the house. There's no electricity, so unless they are standing out in the yard waving a sign that says 'here I am', then they should be safe."

"We need to get to them before they do."

"Alright, let's go." He pushes away from the fence and they head towards the forest. They have about six hours of travel time and with the pace they're travelling they should make it before night fall.

/

Taemin had pulled one of the chairs from the kitchen and is currently sitting in it, peering out the front window. He still can't shake the paranoia that the Four-wheeler guys are looking for them. The three that had kidnapped them before had been adamant in their efforts to get them back to their camp. They'd kept calling it their 'Basecamp,' like a bunch of nerds and he'd wanted to shoot all of them. Especially, the leader.

His name had been Geonwoo and he hated the fact that he hadn't gotten the opportunity to see him die. When Onew had showed up, he'd been a little out of it. His tears had been completely fake, but not his nervousness. He'd known that what Geonwoo was going to do to him was most likely going to hurt. Even though the man was a disgusting pig, he hadn't been completely unattractive.

He hadn't been kidding when he'd told Jonghyun that he could have made it worth his wild. If you're going to be forced to have sex, why not try to enjoy it as much as possible? It wasn't like he got other opportunities to be touched like that. He lets the blinds flick back in to place and adjusts his injured leg as he sinks further down in to the chair. Clearing his throat, he pulls the cigarette pack out of his front pocket and opens it.

He frowns when he's once again reminded that there are only four left. The flame from the lighter surprises him by being higher than it usually is and he leans his head back away from it. Blinking, he carefully eases the tip of the cigarette in to it. Once smoke hits the back of his throat, the lighter makes a snapping sound as he instantly lets go of the button. His scalp still buzzes from the nicotine, but it isn't nearly as bad as it had been the first time.

"Where did you get those?"

Jonghyun's voice startles him and he freezes for a second. When he looks over he's already half way to him.

"You were just going to smoke all of these and not tell me about them, weren't you?" He grabs the pack and lighter and sits down on the floor beside his chair.

Taemin shrugs. "I left them on the table for almost two days. I'm surprised you haven't seen them until now. I had no intention of smoking them all, but if it'd happened..." He shrugs and let's the sentence trail off.

Jonghyun didn't reply. He lights a cigarette and sighs happily. "Man, even Menthol tastes good right now," he says after he's taken a few hits. "I can't even remember the last time I had a cigarette." He'd lost his last pack when they'd gotten trapped by those Walkers and that had happened before he'd even had the opportunity to open them.

"Hey, I've been meaning to ask," he says scooting to where he can see his face better. "How is your shoulder? We haven't checked the stitches in a while and we should have."

Taemin blinks. He rolls his shoulder and feels the familiar irritation his jacket creates against the stitches. "It doesn't really bother me. It's actually starting to itch. I think it's healing good."

"Well, that's good. Have you taken that bandage off?" He points to his knee.

Biting his bottom lip, he narrows his eyes at the ace bandage wrapped around his knee. It's a little loose, so he knows the swelling's went down a little. He makes a face at it and Jongyun smiles at him.

"Here," he says getting up on his knees. "Is it still sensitive," he asks, reaching for the bandage.

"A little bit. Not as bad as it was, though." He sighs in relief as Jonghyun removes the last bit of it. His knee's are pink and there is indentations in his skin. It feels so much better than it did before. Surprised, he says, "I think that things what's been making it hurt so bad. Get it away from me."

Snickering, he rolls it up and sticks it in his pocket. "Alright, I need to look at your stitches. Make sure they're not infected."

Taemin unzips his jacket and pulls it off. He turns to the side. Jonghyun's fingers lightly touch the skin around the stitches. It doesn't hurt so he's surprised when he tells him the area's a little red. "Ugh," he complains.

"I'll be back," he says, removing his fingers. "It doesn't look bad, but red means infection, so we need to take care of it before it gets worse."

"I know," he says, annoyed.

Taemin squeezes his eyes shut and bares his teeth when he pores the alcohol on, because the sting is instant. It feels like bees stinging him or like he's being repeatedly stuck with needles in a line down his shoulder. "Oh, I hate you," he grits out, dropping his forehead to the window. It takes a few minutes for the pain to ease off. When it does he takes a shaky breath and raises his head.

Jonghyun sheepishly gives him a tight lipped smile. "Sorry. It couldn't be helped."

"How is your arm, by the way," he angrily asks, glaring at him.

His eyes widen and he takes a step back. "It's a little sore, but that's all. Don't be mean to me. Do you want to get an infection?"

"You better be glad I can't run right now."

/

Taemin is sitting on the kitchen floor. It still hurts to bend his leg, but he'd forced himself to do it to try and work passed the pain. He pulls one of the food bags over and goes through it. When he finds snacks, he smiles. It ridiculous how many times they've found snacks and nothing else.

Maybe they were the only ones that actually liked to eat them. In this area any way. They had been heading in the opposite direction when those Four-wheeler guys had grabbed them and forced them to come back here. They'd found the silence unnerving and had decided to keep going. Besides, the group of Walkers they'd run in to and the one that had walked in to their fence, they haven't seen or heard any more.

He wonders why that is. The snack he holds up is something he's never seen before. It's rectangular shaped. There's light brown icing on top and the bottom is a dark brown type of cake. It's possible that it may have cream in it. The wrapper crinkles as he opens it and he takes a bite.

The cake part is kind of bland, but there's a hint of chocolate. It takes him a few more chews to taste the flavor of the icing. Maybe it's coffee or just some cheap chocolate knock off. Either way, it isn't too bad. It takes some maneuvering around, but he finally manages to stand with out bumping his injured knee on the floor.

The shuffling sound on the roof makes him freeze. He listens closer. "Jonghyun," he whispers, because he hears it again and Jonghyun is upstairs with no reason to go outside. Adrenaline kicks him in to action. He rushes up the stairs and when he gets to the top he freezes.

Onew is standing in front of one of the hallway windows. They stare at each other for a second before Taemin glares at him and asks, "What are you doing here?"

"This is my house," he instantly answers.

He opens his mouth to say that he'd pretty much abandoned them here, but Jonghyun comes out of their bedroom.

"Whoa." He freezes in his tracks when he sees Onew and then he smiles. "Couldn't stay away, huh?"

"Sure," Onew says, tonelessly. "I'm here to help you."

Taemin blinks, unable to believe what he's just heard.

"What do you mean help us," Jonghyun asks. "We're actually doing pretty good right now. We have food and everything."

He really talks too much, Taemin thinks, glaring at him. He doesn't notice as he continues to smile at Onew.

Onew sighs and turns around to untie the rope from the space between the windows. It's only then that Taemin realizes that it's actually a second rope. He's managed to tie a second rope and start climbing up before they'd even realized there was someone sneaking up him. It didn't matter if sneaking around was his intention. It was the fact that they had realized too late.

By the way that Jonghyun had come in to the hallway he was pretty sure that he hadn't realized at all. Taemin didn't like being snuck up on.

Onew winds his rope up and stops in front of a glaring Taemin, who hasn't moved from his spot at the top of the stairs. He calmly looks down at him. "Are you going to step aside or am I going to have to move you." Tilting his head, he eyes the leg that Taemin is favoring and says, "I'm pretty sure it'd be pretty easy, even if you weren't injured."

Taemin sucks in a sharp breath and his eyes widen. He really wants to hit him.

"Taemin," Jonghyun says. He sounds nervous.

Swallowing, Taemin steps out of the way. His blood is boiling as Onew looks at him for a few extra seconds. When he starts down the stairs, Taemin glares at Jonghyun, then goes to their room and shuts the door.

Jonghyun is torn between going to check on Taemin and going to talk to Onew. He's really surprised that the guy had showed back up. Taemin's made it clear more than once how much he dislikes Onew and he's never seen him so outright hostel towards someone who hadn't tried to kill them. He hesitates in the hallway for about a minute as he tries to decide what to do. Curiosity wins out and he decides to go downstairs.

He's pretty sure Taemin wouldn't want to talk to him right now, any way.

/

The suns gotten so low that he can barely see anything, so Onew pulls a few candles and some makeshift stands out of his pack. He attaches the stands, then lights one of the candles and puts it on the floor. The second one, he puts on the counter and the third one he sets on the table. The stairs creak and he knows it's Jonghyun coming down them.

He'd officially succeeded in pissing Taemin off. That kid... He isn't sure why he'd felt the need to provoke him.

"So, um..."

He turns at the sound of Jonghyun's voice and he looks nervous. "You guys are in real danger," he says. His brows scrunch up in confusion and he bites his bottom lip. "The guys that grabbed you before. The ones I killed. They're not just some thugs. They're part of a gang that's grabbing up people to initiate as new recruits." When Jonghyun still doesn't say anything, he sighs. "Jonghyun."

His whole body is stiff as he shuffles forward. Running a hand through his hair, he says, "I'm sorry. I just..." He drops his hands. "Why are you saying all of this? Are you being serious?"

"Why wouldn't I be serious?"

"When I came down here... I don't know what I expected, but it wasn't that."

He's sure something like this is big news to people who aren't used to dealing with it. Onew's never went up against a gang before, but he's the type that goes with the flow. He'd done it before he'd met Minho and then he'd followed his command with out complaint after that. "There's more to it," he says. "The main reason I came back is because I know for a fact that Taemin is like a prize to them."

His eyes widen. "You mean..."

"Yes. I may be an ass hole, but I'm not that big of an ass hole. As long as I have something to do with it, they're not going to get anywhere near him."

"How the hell are we supposed to deal with an entire gang?" He starts to pace, but Onew grabs his shoulder and turns him around to face him.

"I have a friend whose going to help. Even if I didn't, I'd get him out of here. We have to get out of this area."

"Then let's get the hell out of here!"

He shakes him a few times and Jonghyun grabs his wrists. "You know we can't do that right now. It's dark. Even the Imugi's aren't stupid enough to be out at night."

"Imugi's?" His voice comes out shaky and Onew can feel the tension in his body.

"That's the name of the gang."

"It sounds stupid," he says.

Onew smirks at him. "It is stupid. The meaning of it is stupid, to."

He huffs out a laugh. "So," he says. "What are we going to do about it?"

"We're going to wait for my friend to get here. He went to go check on another friend. Once they get back here, we're all leaving."

Jonghyun is silent for a minute, then he abruptly takes a few steps back and leans forward in to a low bow. "Thank you, Hyung. Thank you. I owe you so much..."

Onew leans away from him, completely taken back by the action. He's touched by the sincerity in his voice and he doesn't know how to react to it. "You don't have to thank me," he says.

"But I do," he insists, not moving. "If it wasn't for you we'd already be prisoners or worse. We could be Walkers or..." He's silent for a few seconds and his voice is shaky when he speaks again. "Taemin could be one of their... slaves."

He scoffs and closes the distance between them. "Would you cut it out," he demands, making him straighten up.

Jonghyun's eyes are wet with unshed tears. "I'm sorry. I don't mean to keep offending you," he says.

"You're not offending me. I just..." He takes a step back. "Just stop with all the bowing and the Hyung stuff. I don't like it."

"Sorry."

He glares at him.

Seeing the expression, he immediately says it again. "Sorry, sorry," he insists. "I'm not doing this on purpose. I swear."

The dude's so hopelessly adorable that he can't help but smile at him.

Jonghyun smiles back. "So, are we good?"

He snickers at him. "Yeah, we're good." Clearing his throat, he looks around. It's amazing how much light three candles can make. The kitchen is still dark, but the most important places are illuminated enough that he can see the entire kitchen counter, the floor under the table and the top of the table. "Have you guys eaten yet," he asks.

"Not dinner."

"I have something you don't need to cook."

Jonghyun curiously watches as he opens his pack and his eyes grow wide when he sees the bags of deer meat. "Wow," he breaths, eyeing them with reverence. "Where did you get those? Is it fresh?"

He tosses a bag to him and nods. "I caught it myself a couple of days ago."

"You caught it," he asks in disbelief. "Who are you?"

Cocking an eyebrow at him, he asks, "Why do you keep asking me that?"

"Why?" He shakes his head and turns the bag of meat around in his hands. "You just keep doing all this crazy stuff." Looking up at him, he admits, "Honestly, you totally make me feel emasculated."

He snorts. "Wow. Never thought I'd hear that one. Why don't you go feed Taemin. I'm pretty sure he's not going to come down here any time soon."

Jonghyun's expression abruptly becomes serious. "I'm sorry that he acts like that towards you. He just..."

"He's a kid and I'm not easily offended. And didn't I tell you to stop apologizing to me."

He grins sheepishly. "Uh, yeah. S..." He cuts himself off and starts backing up. "I'll see you in a few. Kay?"

"Oh-kay," he says, drawing the syllables out. "You're starting to get on my nerves. Get out of here before I'm suddenly tempted to beat you up."

"Yah," he whines. "You're as bad as Taemin." He's smiling as disappears around the corner.

Onew sighs and grips the edges of the table. What the hell is he doing? He'd actually joked around with him. Gritting his teeth, he pushes away from the table and opens his pack again. He needs a cigarette.

He pulls a fresh pack out and loudly packs it. The plastic comes off easily. He drops it on the floor and pulls the top open. Once he removes the aluminum, he blows the loose tobacco off the tops of the filters. He groans as nicotine flows in to his system.

He stands against the wall, leans his head back and closes his eyes.

/

The night is quiet, but not too quiet as Minho makes his was through the city. His night vision isn't anything fancy, but it's effective. He can't make out colors if something is shrouded in darkness, but he can clearly make out shapes. Even in the daylight, things are sharper, which sometimes gives him a head ache. His pupils stay dilated more than they're supposed to, so it lets too much light in.

At night, though, he never has to wait for his eyes to adjust to the darkness. Although, the longer he's in the dark, the better he can see. He's standing in front of the the warehouse that Jinki had told him about. His nostrils flare as he catches the intense scent of old blood in the air. He sniffs the air a few more times as he runs makes his way along the length of the fence.

He picks up a few fading scents from living people. One of them is familiar. "Key," he whispers. "Where did they take you, Key?" He inhales deeply and tries to find his trail.

Key's scent is a mix of vanilla, a light floral, and a spicy undertone. It's a heady mix of hygiene products, cosmetics, and male pheromones. For some reason these days, most people neglect packing hygiene products, but not Key. He even wears cologne or perfume, depending on what he has on hand at the time. If he can't find any, he makes them.

That's why he keeps neutral oils on hand. No one smells like him, so it's easy to recognize his scent. Key has Zombie blood in his veins just like he does, so compared to the other scents in the air, his is nearly neutral. When Minho had first realized what was happening to him, he'd tested to see if Zombie's would be drawn to him the way they are to regular people and they are. Sometimes, there's a moment of hesitation from them, like they're confused with his scent, but that doesn't stop them from attacking him.

Because of the way that Key's scent nearly disappears behind regular humans' scents, he wonders if it's not the scent that they're drawn to, but by the noises he makes. He hasn't had the opportunity to fully test that theory. He finds a set of four-wheeler tracks by the fence door. They back out and go to the right. They lead to a fenced in area that looks like it'd been under construction before the Apocalypse had happened. The scent of decay doesn't bother him as he inhales deeply.

He picks up Key's scent again and when he realizes what direction it's going in he smiles.

/

Munhee is looking in the small mirror he keeps on hand and he's pouting at his appearance. His complexion is bland. His face is oily, but when he touches his skin it feels dry. The skin under his eyes is a light purple color. When he'd joined the Imugi's he'd dyed his hair a sickly green color and let it grow out, so he'd fit in better. He looks horrible and he hates it.

Chulmoo appears in his vision and he's wiggling his hips.

Glaring, he looks up at him. "What," he asks in annoyance.

"I got to piss."

"And? Use a bucket."

"Come on, I don't want that shit in here with us."

He sighs. "So you'd rather go outside and risk getting eaten?"

He wiggles again. "There's a small fence outside. It's locked right?"

"Fine, go outside. Have at it."

"I don't want to go out there alone," he whines. "It's dark."

He sneers at him.

"Come on. Just watch my back. Please. Please. You can turn around and face the other way. Please please."

He jumps to his feet, dropping the mirror on his cot. "Fine," he shouts. "If it'll make you shut the fuck up, I'll go with you." He picks up his gun and head for the stairs.

Once their down the rope, Munhee says, "If I even see one of the infected, I'm going to kick your ass. Hurry up."

Chulmoo lets out a little squealing sound as he pushes him out the door and in to the little alley way beside the building. He raises his gun immediately and turns in a circle. Once he's sure he's safe, he spins around and points his gun at Munhee. "You son of bitch. I ought to shoot you for that."

Ignoring him, Munhee faces the fence door. "Just piss already and hurry up," he commands over his shoulder.

"Fuck you," Chulmoo spits.

"Fuck you," he shoots back. "Hurry up or I'll leave you out here. All by your lonesome." He smiles when he hears his gun rattle as he lets it hang from it's strap. The next sound is a zipper.

"You know," Chulmoo says. "I really miss Homebase. There were so many people watching the gates. There was a perimeter set. Explosives. I haven't felt safe since I left."

Munhee rolls his eyes. Homebase is full of loud, obnoxious, drunken idiots. He'd rather sleep alone in a tree than go back to that place.

The sound of a trash can falling over startles both of them. Munhee grips his gun tighter.

"What the hell was that?" Chulmoo asks in a high pitched voice.

"Shut the fuck up," Munhee hisses. "They're drawn to noise. Remember?"

Thank fuck, he doesn't say anything else. Munhee lines up his Site and licks his lips as he waits. The trash cans are right around the corner. Only something big could knock them over, because they're so full. Unless they somehow get turned around, they have to come in this direction.

"We should just go back inside," Chulmoos whispers.

"Do you really want to find one of those things down stairs the next time we try to leave?"

He makes a face and raises his gun a little higher.

"I didn't think so. We have to check it out." He listens for any noise as he uses his free hand to open the lock on the fence door. No matter how many times he does this, he never gets used to it. Chulmoo's gun is shaking as he sticks close to his side. "I swear if you accidentally shoot me I'm going to be pissed."

"I'm not..."

"Shut up." He pauses at the corner and takes in a deep breath to calm his nerves. Gripping his gun tighter, he turns the corner. There's nothing there. He narrows his eyes at the turned over trash can. Something had to of knocked it over.

There's no way it could have fallen over on it's own. Trash is spread out at the head of it and it really stinks. He looks over and sees Chulmoo covering his nose with his free hand. He opens his mouth to tell him to keep his finger on the trigger when hands suddenly wrap around his chest. He screams as he's jerked backwards in to darkness. A warm heat closes down on the side of his neck and he screams again as he feels teeth. The dark room he's been pulled in lights up as his gun goes off and he's too terrified to think about controlling where it shoots.

/

Chulmoo trips as he enters the fence. His arm is bleeding from a flesh wound and he's shaking. He quickly gets up and locks the gate back. All he can hear is the pounding of his heart as he runs back inside the building Munhee had brought him to. As he climbs the rope, the sounds of Munhee screams echo in his mind. He remembers to pull the rope back up once he's through the hole.

He grips his arm and lets out a whiny sound. He doesn't even care that Munhee had shot him, because he'd been fighting for his life. Even though he didn't particularly like him, no one deserves to go out like that. Something else sticks out in his mind as he runs upstairs. What ever had grabbed him had horrifying dead blue eyes.

/

Munhee's eyes are squeezed shut. He keeps waiting for the pain. After a few minutes, the body pressed up against his back starts vibrating. The feeling of teeth disappear and the warmth on his neck disappears. It takes him a few seconds to realize that what ever is holding on to him is laughing.

The hands around his chest slide away and they grip his shoulders. He's spun around and he instantly recognizes the glowing eyes looking down at him.

"Minho," he snaps.

His deep voice seems to rumble in the darkness as he starts laughing again.

"You're such a jerk." He punches him in the chest.

He can hear the laughter in his voice as he says, "I'm sorry. I just couldn't resist. Besides, how else was I going to get you away from him freely. You have to be dead so they don't come looking for you. Remember?"

"You almost gave me a heart attack."

"Shh shh, Key" He covers his mouth. "Come on. We have to get out of here. You can beat me up later."

Pushing his hand away, Key says, "Oh, you can count on that. I will get you back for this." He clicks the safety on his gun and lets it hang from the strap on his back. "Where are we going?"

"Remember that two story house about an hour out of town?"

He thinks about it, then shakes his head. "I saw a few of them. Which one."

"The blue one."

He doesn't remember a blue one. "Nope." He seriously needs to start paying better attention to what's going on around him. It's a serious character flaw.

* * *

 

Since we now know that Munhee is actually Key, I wanted to show a picture of him with his Zombie blood induced Heterochromia.  The inside of his eyes, close to the pupils is still brown, but everything after that is a bluish green color.

Imagine seeing that in the dark.  His eyes also glow, but only the bluish green part.  It's only a light sheen, so most people wouldn't actually notice it and if they saw it, they usually think it's the dark messing with their mind or if they're near a light, that the light is playing with their vision.  

 

 


	10. Minho and Key

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> I'm sorry it took me so long to update and at the fact that this chapter is so short. I figured I'd go ahead and post what I have so far or it may take longer. You guys deserve an update, so I hope this is good enough to satisfy until I stop having so many problems with this story. Lol. Yay! The gang is all together, finally. That has to count for something. ^_^

Key vaguely recalls passing this house on his way in to the city. It's dark, so the only reason he knows it's blue is because Minho had told him so earlier. He can make out the shapes of boards and tools stacked up against the side of the porch and a tree on the right side of the yard, near the fence. Minho knocks on the door and a few seconds later a male voice comes from the other side.

"Whose there?"

"It's me," Minho replies. It's silent for a few seconds, then there's a scraping sound. He turns to Key. "Remember what I said."

"Yeah yeah," he says, flippantly. Don't touch him or he might break your bones. That's warning enough for him. He happens to like not being in pain, thank you very much.

A few scraping sounds later and the door opens to reveal a guy holding a candle. He has broad shoulders and a soft youthful looking face surrounded by shaggy light brown hair. Even though his appearance is the opposite of what he had expected, the look in his eyes tells him enough. He's a serious person and not someone whose bad side he'll ever want to get on.

Minho introduces them. Jinki opens the door wider in response. Key can practically feel his eyes on the back of his neck as he goes inside. Soft candle light flickers as they sit at the kitchen table. He wrinkles his nose up in distaste at the burnt wood and ash on top of it. "Is this even hygienic," he asks.

Minho snorts in amusement and Onew raises an unamused eyebrow at him.

He looks at each of them questioningly, because seriously, he wants to know.

Minho reaches over his head and pulls a small rope down from the wall. A small slit opens and he says, "Inside filtering system. Most efficient."

"Eew, so you just let smoke and ash stink up the place?"

"It's better than trying to cook outside and having to worry about rather somethings going to try and eat your face off or not," Jinki says.

Key blinks rapidly at his morbid statement. "That's a horrible way to look at it."

"It's reality."

"I have a feeling that you're a very negative person."

He gets a sigh in response and Jinki looks at Minho. "Is he always like this," he asks, like he's the one with the problem.

"Am I always like this," he demands indignantly.

Minho looks back and forth between them and he's clearly amused. Before he can say anything a shuffling sound draws their attention towards the doorway.

/

"Why is he always like this," Taemin complains as he descends the stairs. Jonghyun is always so open and accepting of people. Even if he's just met them. As much as he detested the idea, he'd still managed to convince him to come down and meet Onew's friends. "Onew," he mumbles.

"Ch..." He's pouting when he reaches the kitchen door way. The scene before him makes him blink rapidly in surprise. Jonghyun is sitting in one of the table chairs and a guy he's never seen before is running his fingers through his hair. He can tell that's he only a little taller than him and it's too dark to be able to make out his facial features.

Normally, he doesn't get jealous, but from the care-free way that Jonghyun is just letting this guy touch him, he can't help himself. "Yah!" He says loudly and everyone turns to look at him. The guy running his fingers through Jonghyun's hair immediately goes around the chair and starts coming towards him.

"Taemin-ah?" He says.

Taemin takes a reflexive step back and holds his hands up defense. "Don't come any closer," he demands. The guy freezes and Taemin takes a few steps to the side, away from him.

"Anyoung-haseyo." The guy bows low and Taemin eyes him warily.

"Taemin," Jonghyun says, standing up. "This is Key Hyung."

"Key," he wonders, aloud. That's a strange name and he's pretty sure it isn't Korean.

"It's not my real name, obviously," Key clarifies.

"Ah." He goes to stand beside Jonghyun.

"He's going to cut my hair tomorrow."

"Ne."

"Ne? That's great news. It looks really bad." He runs a hand down the side of Taemin's hair and says, "You know, I think yours could use a trim to."

He stiffens at the thought. "How do you even know he can cut hair?"

"I take offense to that," Key says, jokingly. "I'll have you know that I had my Cosmetology license before this whole Apocalypse thing happened. I was going to take it to the next level and do hair shows, Catwalks." He sighs heavily. "The things I could have done. The fashion I was going to create."

"Oh, brother," Onew groans.

"Hey, no one asked you," Key says, sarcastically.

Onew doesn't respond. It was then that Taemin realized there was another guy in the room. He glimpsed him when he'd first come in, but from the jealousy he'd felt for Jonghyun and the panic he'd felt from Key trying to touch him, it hadn't processed in his brain enough to acknowledge the fact. "Who are you," he asks. He winces when Jonghyun elbows him in the ribs and he glares at him.

"Be nice," he hisses.

"You be nice." He rubs his side and eyes the other guy suspiciously.

"I'm Minho. Onew's B.F.F." He can barely make out the wide grin he shoots Onew and he scrunches his face up in confusion. There's a light air around the two of them and Taemin can't understand how someone can like Onew enough to want to joke around with him.

"B.F.F.?" Jonghyun wonders aloud.

"Best Friends Forever," he clarifies. He laughs out loud as Onew glares at him.

"Please stop," Onew says. "You're embarrassing yourself. Not me."

"Oh, Hyung-ah," he says, playfully. "Why don't you lighten up. You're still mad at me?"

"Is it that obvious?"

"Here, give me a kiss-" He jumps out of reach as Onew kicks out at him.

Taemin gags at the thought of them making out and he wonders if they're being serious or just joking around. He looks at Jonghyun whose watching them in amusement. He groans, because all of it's weird. Instead of Onew's friends being somber assholes like him, they've turned out to be just as bad, but in a different way.

/

That night they talk about what they're going to do about their situation. Because Taemin's injured, they decide that it wouldn't be smart to leave just yet. His knee is healing quickly, so it won't take more than another day or two before he'll be able to walk right again. It'll still hurt a little bit, but he's willing to be uncomfortable if it means getting the hell out of this area. He's had enough of the Imugi's and the city and this damn house.

He's starting to feel cooped up.

/

"So, I've met them," Minho says to Onew, talking about Jonghyun and Taemin. He's sitting down with his back against the wall. Onew is sitting in a chair facing him. "They seem nice. Well, Jonghyun Hyung does. The kid seems a little apprehensive, but that's to be expected. What's your take on them?"

Key, whose laying on his back, turns over to face them. "Yeah. Did you see the way he reacted to me when I tried to get close to him? He didn't act scared. More like, aggressive."

"He's not some innocent little kid," Onew says. "Jonghyun is fine. Taemin's the one you need to keep your eye on. He seems really unpredictable. I can't shake this feeling that he's... dangerous."

"We're all dangerous," Minho says. "In this day and age you kind of have to be."

"No," Onew says, shaking his head. "I mean, there's something off about him. I can't quit put my finger on it."

"I don't care about any of that," Key says, pouting. "He's just a baby. If this is all he knows, then of course he's going to be a little off. At least, we all had the chance to grow up, at least, a little bit before the world became This." He throws his arms out to emphasis his point.

"Oh, Umma Hyung," Minho coos. He grins at the disapproving look Key gives him.

Onew rolls his eyes. "Good luck trying to nurture him. You might loose a hand in the process."

Key 'tsks' in disapproval. "You're so mean. You should be nicer to him. He needs nurturing. Not some overly masculine jackasses putting labels on him."

"Who is this guy," Onew wonders aloud. "Where did you find him," he asks Minho.

"Yah!" Key exclaims. "I'm right here." Who is he? Who is this guy sitting here insulting him?

Talking about Taemin being bad. This is guy is so much worse. No wonder the kid doesn't like him. Neither does he. How did dear, sweet Minho put up with him?

From what Minho had told him about Onew, he hadn't suspected that there might be something deeper between them, but from the small amount of time he'd had to observe them together, he could pick up on it. It was an awkward display of hesitant touches and playful words, which made it hard to read exactly what they had together, but there was something, at least, a little bit deeper than just a friendship.


	11. New Company

"Have you ever cut your hair like this?" Key asked. He was using a small pocket knife to restore Jonghyun's hair to it's original razor edged style. They were in the kitchen, Jonghyun sitting in one of the chairs and Key standing in front of him. The sun was high in to the sky, which meant it was something like noon to one or two in the afternoon. They'd opened the curtains to let as much natural light as possible in.

Jonghyun's cheek twitched as a little bit of hair fell on it. Scratching it, he said, "Um, I tried it. It never turns out right. It comes out worse if I use scissors and I can't see the back of my hair. I hate it when I end up cutting too much and it comes out looking gapped in areas."

Key made a noise of distress. "I miss the days of electricity and hair trimmers, and," he added wistfully, "Barbers."

"Yes," he said in the same tone.

They both remained silent for a few minutes as Key worked. Jonghyun concentrated on the feel of his fingers in his hair and the sound the blade made as it passed through each strand.

"So, if you don't mind my asking," Key began hesitantly. "How do you know Taemin?"

Jonghyun swallowed as he remembered the day he'd rescued Taemin. He cleared his throat and said, "It's ok. Taemin used to live on the same street as me. He moved in with his grandmother when he was fourteen. I didn't meet him until about four months after that.

I was with my parents, we were grocery shopping the day that Taemin's grandmother invited us to dinner the first time. Taemin..." The memory of his neutral expression as he'd introduced himself seemed so far away. He hadn't acted like a kid, even at fourteen.

Smiling at the memory, he said, "Taemin didn't like me very much back then. He didn't like people in general. I didn't know how to handle him. Even when I tried to start a conversation, sometimes, most of time, he'd just look at me and remain silent."

"It wasn't from shyness either. He just likes to feel people out. I think it's a good trait. Not getting attached easily. I wish I had that ability."

Key huffed out a small laugh. "There's nothing wrong with getting close to people. It's better to have loved and lost then never to have loved at all."

He felt his cheeks heat at the familiar quote. It was endearing and he hadn't heard someone say something like that in a long time. "You really believe that?" He felt shaky with expectation. It was hard having to deal with people who circumstance had hardened to such a point that they hardly smiled or looked at you like you were insane for making a joke.

Jonghyun was a poet at heart. He needed the freedom to express his emotions and he made it a point to at least try and lighten the mood.

Nodding, Key said, "I do." He pulled back to take in his work. "Mm. Good." He walked around him and ran his fingers through the hair at the bottom of his head a few times. "So, you tried to get to know Taemin. How did he end up traveling with you?"

He hesitated, trying to decide on rather he should tell him the whole story or just the part about when he'd taken Taemin with him. "I don't want to burden you," he admitted.

Key went still for a second, then immediately went back to what he was doing. "You can speak frankily. I don't mind. It's nice talking to you."

He blushed. "Really? It's not easy talking to people these days."

"People these days have bad attitude problems," he said sarcastically and it made Jonghyun laugh. "I mean it," he said, also laughing. "Ok, so it's the Zombie Apocalypse. Yah! That doesn't mean that all manners go out the window. The Apocalypse is just an excuse that people use to justify being dicks."

Still laughing, Jonghyun relented. "Ok. Ok." He inhaled through his nose as he thought about where to start. "Like I said," he began, adjusting to get more comfortable.

"I barely knew Taemin, because he didn't want anything to do with me. Because of our age difference, there really was no reason for me to get to know him better either and it wouldn't have been appropriate anyway. Especially, since he wanted nothing to do with me." He smiled when he remembered the day Taemin had followed him to the guitar store. Key didn't need to know that little fact. Taemin had even told him that he'd followed him.

He'd actually felt a little scared at the blase' way that he'd revealed the fact and then turned away from him in favor of looking at the guitars hanging on the wall. Eventually, he'd learned that being blunt was just Taemin's way. "Taemin and I did eventually start talking. It was almost two years after he'd moved in with his grandmother. We both have..."

He sighed. "Had... this thing with music. I liked to sing and he liked to dance."

"Wow, really," Key exclaimed and the sudden high pitch made Jonghyun jump.

"Yes?"

"I used to perform in local talent contests when I was younger, then it became more fashion oriented as I got older. There was once this hair show that I went to. I was blown away at the talent I saw. I'm talking singers, dancers, circus performers. It was really amazing."

"I learned everything I could about it and during the next year I managed to make the right connection. Three years later, I managed to earn a spot to perform in the same show." He sighed wistfully. "Those were the good days."

"That sounds amazing. I never did any big performances. Not even talent shows. I did sing for money, though. Taemin and I would spend all day performing and barely get enough money for a descent meal."

"It wasn't like we really needed it, though, so it was ok. It was worth it. It was the experience. Knowing that we were just doing what we loved to do. It was enough."

Nostalgia rendered them silent for a minute. Key passed Jonghyun a small round mirror that he'd borrowed from Minho when he was finished.

"Wow," Jonghyun said. His hair looked shiny and framed his face just the way he liked.

Key smoothed his bangs down and said, "We'll let it grow out a little more and work this dye out, then I'll be able to do it right. What'd you use to get this color?"

The blonde dye stopped a few inches away from his scalp and it kind of looked ridiculous. There was no way he could pull this off as being done on purpose. The dark brown shade of his natural hair was in high contrast to the bright yellow color of the rest of it. "I used bleach." He wrinkled his nose as he remembered how strong it's been and how long it had taken him to get the scent out of his hair. With the lack of water, it'd taken weeks.

"Eew, bleach," Key screeched. "That's dangerous. You could have suffocated yourself or gone blind. What were you thinking?"

Even though the tone was naggy, Jonghyun was still touched by the genuine concern. "I learned my lesson already. That's why my hair is like this." He pointed to it. "It can look as ridiculous as it wants, but I will never use bleach again."

"Good, because that's just stupid." He took the mirror back and placed it on the table. "There's a better alternative and although it doesn't smell good, it's no where near the intensity as bleach."

His eyes widened slightly and intrigued, he asked, "Really? What is it?"

"Peroxide."

He hadn't been expecting that one. "Like, medical Peroxide?"

"Yes."

"Your hair will actually turn blonde from that?"

"Yes." He shrugged and added, "It won't come out as bright as the shade caused from bleach, but once you use it, the sun will do the rest. It'll take time, but it gives you a good reason to soak up some rays."

"Uh..." He made a face. "Soaking up the rays isn't really my style. Skin cancer and all that."

"I didn't say stay out in the sun until you turn in to a dried up old sponge. You need sun every day for Vitamin C and to increase those endorphin's. Be happy." He flapped his arms excitedly and Jonghyun laughed out loud.

"You really are something else," he told him. He liked it.

Key smiled at him and picked up the mirror. "You should go change shirts and I'll go give this back." He waved the mirror in front of his face.

Jonghyun looked down at the hair on the front of his shirt. He didn't have any extra ones. There was no need to mention that. He watched Key disappear around the corner and ran his fingers through his freshly cut hair. Little pleasures in life were something to live for and right now, his hair felt smooth. He was happy.

Even if he did look like someone had dipped just the top of his head in brown paint.

~

Key came to a skidding halt in Jinki's open door way. Jinki may be an asshole, but where he lacked manners, he made it up in a way that he hadn't been expecting. He's turned away from him and his bare shoulders and back are glistening with sweat. He's not just toned like he'd figured he was. Most survivors these days were toned, because of the amount of traveling they do.

No. Jinki had real muscles and Key wondered what extra work he did to get them. Muscles like that didn't just develop on their own. Minho was muscly to, but he wasn't as broad as Jinki was and his mouth went dry at the sight of it. He quickly shook his head to snap out of it. It was a nice sight and he'd allow himself to think about it at other times. Preferably, when he was alone and naked.

In reality, he wasn't a fool. There was nothing about Jinki that made him want to get any closer to him. He wasn't even sure if getting closer to him was a possibility. He seemed pretty dead set to insult him at every chance he got. He jumped when something bumped him from behind. Minho smiled down at him when he turned around and he immediately handed him the mirror he'd borrowed.

Blinking down at it, Minho said, "Thank you."

"You're welcome," he said giving a small bow. He was embarrassed. Once again, he wondered exactly what kind of relationship Minho and Jinki had. What if they were a couple? His mind started playing disconcerting scenarios in his head where Minho beats him up in different violent ways for flirting with his man.

There's no way that would actually happen, because Minho was too mature for petty crap like that. The thought still made him feel awkward. Before the scenarios can get worse, he excuses himself and goes back downstairs. His pallet from last night was still rolled out and he crawled on to it. It's times like this that he misses cellphones, computers, books. Little things to occupy his time or hide behind while he worked through an awkward situation.

/

Taemin's been avoiding everyone all day, refusing to leave his room. He's on the bed, staring up at the ceiling when Jonghyun comes in. He rolls over and takes in his new hair cut. "I told you that dying your hair was a bad idea," he says.

Jonghyun smiles at him and runs his fingers through it. "I know it looks stupid, but at least it's cut. It'll be easier to handle since it's starting to get hot outside."

He hums in agreement. "What's going on downstairs? Anything interesting I should know about?"

Jonghyun shakes his head and comes to sit down beside him. "Not really." He pushes Taemin's hair away from his face. "You know, he can help you with your hair," he says gently. His hair doesn't look as bad as his had. It's not the length that's the problem. It's the fact that it's dried out and stringy. He can't remember the last time his hair had looked nice. The expression Taemin makes at the idea prompts him to back track. "I know you don't like him, but you don't know him. He's really nice. Who knows? You two may hit it off."

"No one just hits it off with a kid."

He sighs. "Are you bringing that up again?"

"I'm still mad at you. I'm still shocked that after all this time that there's still that rift between us."

"Taemin-"

"It's just us," he says a little louder. He couldn't help bringing this subject up, because it was still bugging him. It would always bug him until Jonghyun quit treating him like a kid and like they hadn't been through as much as they had together. "I feel offended by it."

Jonghyun's heart stuttered in his chest. Taemin wasn't one to dramatize things for effect. He said what he meant. He should have realized it would get to this point, because he'd only ever reacted this way to his refusal to talk about certain things. At first it was met with silence, then anger and now he was offended, which meant he was hurt by it.

He knew Taemin was a lot older than he used to be, but it just being the two of them made it awkward for some reason. He wasn't his dad. They'd been through things that people in normal circumstances wouldn't have been able to handle and because of that they'd formed a special type of bond that couldn't be labeled. They understood each other when no one else did and Taemin meant the world to him. He knows he needs to do something about this, because Taemin deserves more.

He just doesn't know where to start. Taking a deep breath, he tries to figure out something small he can offer. It's difficult. "What exactly do you want to know," he hesitantly asks. He's afraid it's going to be something highly embarrassing and dreads how he'll have to answer.

Taemin blinks in surprise. From his tone and expression, he can tell he's serious. Now, that he has the opportunity, he's stumped. There have been so many questions over the years that Jonghyun has brushed off or out right refused to answer. What was the most important thing that he wanted to know?

He has to resist smiling when the first question that pops in to his head is: Have you ever had sex. Even though Jonghyun's offered to answer his questions, it's still too soon to throw something like that out there. He doesn't want to ruin this opportunity before it's even begun. He decides on: "Have you ever kissed anyone?"

It's a simple question, but knowing that he has the obligation to answer, he blushes from the roots of his hair down to his toes. "Yes," he automatically chokes out. He brings his hand up to his mouth and coughs in to it to clear his throat. His face is so hot that it's ridiculous.

Taemin gives him a small smile instead of the giant grin he'd been expecting and he realizes that answering his questions means so much more to him than he'd originally thought it would. Answering the second question isn't as hard. He's relieved that Taemin sticks with easy questions, but fears that it's only a matter of time before the serious stuff comes up.

/

"Yah!"

The ash and burnt fire wood on the kitchen table smelled awful. Key had searched the entire kitchen for any kind of container or trash bag that he could put it all in, so he could dump it outside. He'd found nothing. "I thought this was a house of refuge," he complained. "This isn't even in squatting conditions."

He marched up the stairs to Jinki's room. The door was still open. Minho was the only one in the room and he was looking out the window.

"Minho-ah."

Minho jumped and spun around. His reaction surprised Key, because he wasn't easy to sneak up on. "What are you looking at?"

He scratched a place on his arm and cleared his throat. "I was just looking," he said simply. "What is it?"

"I need something to clean off this table. It's filthy and it stinks and frankly I'm tired of looking at it."

A smile slowly spread across his face. "Hyung, you're the only person I've ever seen to nag over a safety precaution."

Offended, Key huffed. "I'm not nagging. It really stinks. Are there any bags or anything in this house that I can use?"

He shrugged. "I don't know. This isn't my house, remember?"

"Ugh," he groans, because he's right. It's Jinki's house and he really didn't want to talk to him right now

Minho laughed. "He's not that bad, Hyung."

"He hates me. He looks at me like he wants to..." He made a face as he tried to figure out how to finish that sentence. "I don't know. Bite my face off or something."

He wrinkled up his nose and said, "That's disgusting. If anything, he'd just break your arm."

"Neeeee'." That was so not funny.

Laughing at him, he crossed the room and pulled him in to the hallway. "You two are going to have to talk eventually," he said, leading him down the stairs."

Key groaned again.

When they got to the bottom floor, Minho turned to him and said, "How about I talk to him and see what he says and you... just... do something else for now, huh?"

"What else is there to do?"

"I don't know. Go talk to Jonghyun. You two seem to get along well."

He smiled at the idea. "Yeah, he's sweet." He blinked rapidly when he remembered that Jonghyun had went upstairs. "He's with Taemin."

Minho sighed. "I'm going outside now."

Pouting, Key watched him open the door and close it behind him. He rolled his eyes and turned towards the stairs. New people! Angry people! Stinky firewood! "Yah," he exclaimed in annoyance. Even though, being here beat being where the Imugi's were, he still wasn't satisfied. Reluctantly, he went upstairs and tentatively knocked on Jonghyun's door.

/

Jinki had collected fire wood that morning and he had stacked it up behind the house. When Minho found him, he was shirtless and was wearing work gloves as he chopped wood. He silently watched him drop a few pieces in to the chopped pile and lean over to pick up a medium sized log from his other side. "Did you need something," he asked with out looking up.

Minho took in a calming breath and forced a smile on to his face. "Not at this particular moment. Why?"

"Because your staring at me."

One side of his mouth quirked up and he said, "I wasn't staring. I was just watching. But if you want to talk about staring, you've gotten bigger since the last time I saw you. What have you been doing?" He mock gasped. "Have you been working out?"

Jinki looked up and cocked an eyebrow at him. "Sure. I frequent the gym. Do you want to share a membership?"

He grinned at him and walked closer. The entire time Minho had been separated from him he'd been worried that he was going to fall apart or worse. It was such a relief to see that he was doing good. Even if he was currently giving him his uninterested expression. "That's right," he teased. "How'd telling that joke feel?"

"I swear if you don't stop I'm going to punch you in the face."

His mouth formed an 'O' of mockery. He quickly backed up, laughing when Jinki raised his ax slightly in warning. "Yah! Stop it." He laughed some more and warmth flooded him when he noticed the corners of Jinki's mouth straining as he tried to resist smiling. "Hyung, I missed you."

Jinki dropped the ax and huffed. They stared at each other for a minute. Ever since Minho had known him Jinki's moods had been known to flip like a switch and he never knew what mood the current one was going to abruptly transition in to. It sometimes caused him whiplash. His muscles tensed, because from the way Jinki's eyes widened, he was pretty sure he was about to attack him.

He thought about all of those months he'd spent away from him and shook his head slowly. 'Please don't do this,' he silently begged. It hurt him enough knowing that Jinki had been devastated. He'd thought he'd been killed and in one of worst ways a person could go. Eaten alive by Zombies. Then, there was the craptastic way they'd reconnected.

Him blowing up Onzul and almost giving Jinki a full fledged panic attack. He'd done what he'd had to do, but he still felt like shit about it. He deserved everything that he wanted to dish out, but it would still hurt. "Jinki," he whispered.

"Just stop talking," he snapped.

Minho did. His clenched his hands in to fists as Jinki rounded the pile of fire wood. He stopped in front of him and he was breathing hard. The tension between them was a palpable thing as they stared at each other. Minho studied his expression. His brows were drawn down, he was angry, but from the way his eyes kept flickering, he could tell that there was a lot more going on. It looked like he was struggling with something.

"When did you meet Key?"

The question caught him off guard and he blinked. "Four months after that night."

"Why were you able to be around him and not me?"

His heart stuttered in his chest, because he realized what Jinki was getting at. "Hyung, that's-"

"Stop calling me that!"

Shit! Shit! Shit! He shook his head roughly. "It's not what you think. I ran in to him by accident. He was being chased by Zombies. I heard screaming and found him."

"If I hadn't of helped him he would've died." It took effort to not reach out and grab his arm. He wanted him to understand and it was so hard to express how he truly felt about this situation when he wasn't able to make physical contact. "He was an idiot when I found him," he hissed. Hysterical laughter bubbled up inside of him and he resisted letting it out.

"If I'd of made him go away he might have died. I know you understand that kind of situation. Come on..." He trailed off to stop himself from saying Hyung again.

Jinki eyed him speculatively. "So, he just went along with you. Just like that? Did you tell him about your infection? I couldn't help but notice that his eyes are messed up. They don't look like yours either. What's the deal with that?"

"Of course, I told him. He was freaked out at first, but he didn't have much of a choice. I trained him and the eye thing... Like I said. It was an experiment, but it happened a little differently than I said before."

"He got shot. By the Imugi's. We were running from them. There were five of them on Four-wheelers." He wrinkled his nose up. "I didn't inject my blood in to him. I fed it to him."

Jinki made the same expression. "Explain."

"He got shot. He knew he was going to die. I'd mentioned trying my blood out on a person in the past. Since there are no people, it was only a slightly horrifying, but intriguing idea. Key begged me to try it out on him."

He bit his lip as he remembered the sight of him with blood flowing out of his mouth and all over the front of his shirt. The wheezing sound he'd made as he'd gasped for air. "I cut my wrist and fed it to him... and it worked. I think my body mutated the virus and because of that it reacted differently for him than it did for me. I'm the carrier."

"His physical changes are slight in comparison to mine."

"And the Imugi's? How did you become a part of them if they tried to kill you?"

"We went in undercover. Luckily, when they were chasing us, they didn't get a good look at our faces. We wore wraps." He flinched when their foreheads were suddenly touching. Onew was so close that he could feel the heat coming from his body.

He swallowed when his hands cupped his cheeks. Where was this going? He wanted to reach out and touch him, pull him closer, but he didn't know how to react. "Jinki?"

His voice was soft when he said, "I missed you two." Then, he kissed him. Minho still didn't know how to react. When Jinki pulled back he questioned him with his eyes. His expression was gentle as he leaned in for another kiss.

"Just kiss me, Minho," he whispered.

He did so hesitantly, unsure of exactly where this was going.

/

Taemin was observing Key curiously as he and Jonghyun talked. He had sharp features: Slanted eyes, high cheek bones and defined lips. He was pretty, but not so much so that he lost his masculinity. Not like him. Taemin's looks had been the bane of his existence since he was old enough to realize that every, girls and guys, found him attractive.

Since the apocalypse had happened, things had gotten progressively worse. His brows furrowed when he heard a soft thump against the house outside. Neither Key nor Jonghyun seemed to have heard it. He crawled off the bed and peaked through the curtain. It was too high up for him to see the entire yard below. The sound didn't come again, so he figured it must have been Onew doing something down there.

He knew he was outside chopping wood. Chewing on his bottom lip, he layed down on the bed. Even though, he didn't particularly like being around all of these new people, it beat being bored out of his mind.

/

Minho growled when his back hit the side of the house. Jinki was holding him up by his hips. He moaned and pulled him closer. "Mm, I don't know what's gotten in to you," he mumbled in between kisses, "but I like it."

"Shut up," Jinki said, breathily.

When he started unbuttoning his pants, Minho huffed out a laugh and said, "You're not going to try and cut my dick off, are you?"

He growled at him and kissed him hard. "Shut up," he said again.

Minho huffed out a laugh and leaned his head back against the house. Oh, this was good. He hadn't seen him like this in so long. He liked it. He liked it a lot.


	12. Settling In

**I just thought this was a good chapter to pick this story back up with. ;) Enjoy!**

* * *

 

  
The rising sun cast a pale blue overcast, giving the scenery a pale blue hue. It was quiet, almost in a haunting way. Minho slid his blade through the flesh of the apple in his hand, cutting off a tiny piece. He raised the blade and brought the piece to his mouth. The sweet tangy flavor burst on his tongue as he sucked on it. So far, it was a quiet morning and he was enjoying the peace and quiet. He heard Key as he moved through the house. It wasn't long before he opened the door and sat down down beside him.

"Is that a hickey?"

Smiling in amusement, Minho looked at him. He was holding a steaming mug of his usual morning tea.

Key looked at his neck again and made a face. "You slut. I thought you said he didn't like to be touched."

He snorted and said, "I didn't touch him. He touched me."

They were both quiet for a few seconds, Minho cutting off another peice of his apple and eating it and Key analyzing this new information.

"I'm confused," Key said, breaking the silence. "You said he would break bones if you touched him. Why is it different for you?"

Minho sighed. He'd never had to explain Jinki's personality quirks to anyone before. "It's a touch of PTSD... I think. Mixed with his general dislike of people."

"Was he in the army or something?"

He snorted and shook his head 'no'. "He's an introvert from hell and... something bad happened to him when the apocalypse first happened." He pressed his tongue against his right canine until it ached as he thought about it. This always made him angry. The things he would do to those guys if he ever caught up with them.

He took in a deep breath to calm himself down and cut another piece of apple off. He appreciated Key's silence in this moment. If it had been anyone else he would've cut this conversation off before it even had a chance to get started. Key's unfailing empathy and patience gave him the time he needed to work through his own internal issues with the situation.

It was a miracle that his voice came out evenly when he spoke. "Three guys jumped him when he went out for a food run. He was alone back then." He looked at him. His eyes were wide and full of sympathy, because he had a pretty good idea of where this conversation was going.

His voice came out low and hesitant when he asked, "Did they...?"

Minho nodded. "They held him down and... took turns." He looked away sharply. "They just left him there. He got up and..." He shook his head in disbelief. "...still brought food back to where ever he was staying at the time. Sad thing is, he never ran into either one of them again after that."

"Shit."

"Yeah." He put the piece of apple he was holding in his mouth and spoke while he chewed on it. "Imagine what he'd do to them if he found them now."

Neither one of them said anything else as (for Minho) delightfully twisted bloody scenarios played in his mind and (for Key) he blew on his hot tea to distract himself from similar thoughts that were trying to come unbidden in to his mind.

Gold began to seep its way in to the blue haze, bringing more to attention to the shape of the tree in the yard and the large picnic table before them. After the Apocalypse the world had become a horrible place. Sometimes, silence was needed to nurse the damage done from just existing with in it. Key had watched a lot of people die over the last couple of years. In the beginning, hoards of Zombies over ran the human population.

It had taken a while for people to adapt to this new strange land. He'd made the mistake of leaving the group he was traveling with, unable to watch any more of them die. He to, would have died from his own stupidity if Minho hadn't of showed up and saved him. He owed him his life simply for that. Minho was nothing like you'd expect from a super Zombie killer.

He practically radiated warmth and happiness. He liked to joke around and he always took care of those around him in a way that left them better off in the end. When Key had started traveling with him, he hadn't known shit about weapons, combat or survival tactics. Now, he did. Smiling, he turned to look at him.

Minho deserved to have someone special in his life.

"You seem to be quit taken with him," he said softly.

"Hm?" Minho's eyes were glazed over, like he'd been lost in thought, as he looked at him. His gaze quickly sharpened as he turned his attention to him fully.

"Jinki," Key clarified. "You seem taken with him."

Minho smiled wistfully. He looked back out across the yard and said, "Jinki... He's... Unique."

"You love him. Don't even try to deny it."

"I do. It's true. He can be difficult sometimes, but..." His chest expanded as he breathed in deeply. "Sometimes, I worry about him. What he'd be like if we hadn't of met. I have no doubt that he'd still be alive, but... You should have seen him when I first met him."

He looked back at him. "If you think he's temperamental now or cold, you should have seen him then. I can't tell you how many fights we got in to. He just needs someone to just be there."

Key nodded. "And that person is you."

He gave a small smile. "Yeah. He needs me. Not to stay alive, but... to live."

~

Onew felt the mattress dip beside his right foot. He knew that the only person who'd be brave enough to get in to his bed was Minho, but he still opened his eyes to make sure. Minho was still wearing the gray pair of sweat pants he'd borrowed from him last night and he was bare chested as he crawled up to lay beside him. Jinki lowered himself back down on his stomach and turned his head to the side to look at him.

"I'm surprised you're still in bed," Minho whispered.

Onew made a non-commentary noise and closed his eyes. He hadn't slept this good in a long time and he didn't want to get up.

"It wasn't like we got a lot of sleep last night," Minho continued. "So, it's understandable." He laughed softly as Jinki wrapped an arm around his waist and pulled him closer.

"Sleep now," he said. "Talk later."

"Yes sir."

"Shut up."

~

Key stopped what he was doing when he caught the pitiful sights of Jonghyun and Taemin sleepily shuffling their way in to the kitchen. Their eyes were puffy, their hair rumbled and... "Jonghyun, weren't you supposed to change that shirt after I cut your hair yesterday?"

Jonghyun pouted and didn't say anything as pulled a chair out and sat down at the table.

Taemin ran his tongue around in his mouth to moisten it. Jonghyun groaned as he dropped down in to his lap. He wrapped his arms around his neck and nuzzled his way into his chest.

Shaking his head at the sleepy children, Key stoked the fire with the small metal bar he'd found outside. This time, he'd used smaller sticks to make a fresh fire. The area no longer stunk and he was satisfied with his work. Now, he just had to get breakfast done and everything would be perfect.

~

By the time Minho and Jinki got up, the sun had risen high in the sky. Key waved and Minho waved back. Jinki ignored his existence, as usual and went straight for the thermos of coffee.

"Good morning," Jonghyun greeted with a small bow. He grinned and offered Minho half of his plate of his rice, which he gratefully accepted.

"Sorry," Key said. "I would have made more, but I didn't know if you two were going to get up at all. Fun time last night?"

Taemin made a face when he realized what they were talking about and looked at his rice. Jonghyun looked at them curiously. He hadn't realized. Key caught his eye and he grinned as he wiggled his eyebrows suggestively.

"Gross," Taemin mumbled under his breath.

"Oh, that's right," Key exclaimed. "We have virgin ears in the room. I'm so sorry."

Taemin, who was still looking at his rice felt his entire face grow hot. He wanted to strangle him. It wasn't his fault he was still a virgin. And why did people have to talk about it?

"Leave the kid alone," Minho said and Key just snorted in amusement.

"He's got to learn sometime."

"Sometime, but not any time soon, huh?" Jonghyun added.

Taemin glared at him. "Yes, thanks," he said sharply.

Jonghyun gave him an awkward smile and looked away.

Jinki took his coffee outside on to the porch.

* * *

 

**So, what do you think about... any of it? Their relationships or lack there of? Favorite Character? Least favorite? Favorite part of the story so far? I'm dying to hear something about it.**


	13. Refuge End

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Minho and Jinki have lots and lots of sex, Jinki is unashamed- ;), Key is Key-centric and everyone prepares to to leave the house of refuge, then they do.

**Continuum**  
**Chapter Thirteen**  
**Refuge End**

Onew stretched an arm over his head and leaned sideways. He gave a little groan as it created a nice little burn. It felt good. He did the same thing to the other one and goosebumps formed on his arms and ran down his spine. Man, that felt good. His eyes felt heavy lidded as he straightened up.

His muscles felt loose, but there was an underlying stiffness that he was feeling from barely doing anything these last couple of days. It was still early morning and he was determined that he wasn’t going to waste today away sleeping or laying around in bed. Although, he was still sitting in bed. And, there’s Minho... the creeper. “Are you seriously going to sit there and just stare at me,” he asked tonelessly.

Minho had pulled a kitchen chair into his room and was sitting in it at the end of the bed. He had his feet propped up on the foot-board, was eating a bag of chips and he seemed to be enjoying himself. The bag crinkled as he pulled another chip out. “Yep,” he said and then he stuck the whole chip in his mouth. It made a loud crunching sound as he bit in to it.

Rolling his eyes, Onew pushed the blanket off of his crossed legs. He scooted to the edge of the bed and dropped his feet to the floor. Minho eyes sparkled with amusement and interest as he watched him walk naked to his Pack. He payed special attention to- mmm- all of him. His legs were thick with muscles, his back looked smoothed even though it rippled with muscles when he moved and those fucking arms...

He’d become distracted, vaguely aware of the half chewed pieces of chip in his mouth, but unable to do anything about it. Biting the side of his lip, he continued to watch him. Onew pulled a pair of jeans out of his Pack and slipped them on. He always had liked to go free-bird. It was one of his sexier qualities.

He ‘was’ sexy and he didn’t even try to be. It was one of the things that had made him so damned irresistible. The sight of the shirt in Jinki’s hands made Minho snap out of his moment of distraction. It was either do what was on his mind now or let him walk out of the room and have to think about it all day. He dropped the bag of chips and there was a crinkle and crunch sound as it hit the floor. Swallowing the chip in his mouth, he crossed the room and grabbed Jinki’s wrist.

Jinki tensed and he felt momentarily bad about touching him so abruptly like that, but it’d be ok. “Hey...” He paused when he almost called him Hyung. He let the impulse pass, then said, “I want to suck your cock.” Jinki looked like he was trying to come up with a response to that and it was kind of funny; There was no response to that.

Well, except for Yes or No and any self respecting guy just went with an offer like that. Even Jinki, because he didn’t object when he backed him up towards the bed and guided him to sit down on it. Then he let him unzip his jeans and pull them off. He may have said ‘I just put those on’, but that was the end of it. Jinki’s skin only gets hot when he’s running or exerting a lot of energy out in the sun.

On a normal day, his skin is always cool, like it absorbs and hold any coolness in the air. It’s why he can wear a jacket in ninety degree weather and not be bothered by it. He used to make fun of him for it, but he’d come to appreciate it, especially when he’d earned the ability to touch. His skin was always hot. He sweated at the first sight of sun and his temperature mixed with Jinki’s temperature was amazing.

When they’d first started sleeping together, Minho had been paranoid the whole time that he touched him. Every time he did, he’d do what he was doing right now. His muscles would tense up and he’d jump at random moments. He’d thought that it was because he was reacting negatively to being touched, but that wasn’t it. If you touched him when he wanted you to, it wasn’t about that at all.

He’d talked to him about it and had found out something else that made Jinki irresistible. He was sensitive to touch. That was another reason why he didn’t like to be touched by other people. Minho had ran that around in his head for a long time. Most people didn’t know this about Jinki, but he was a gentlemen.

He didn’t believe in just sleeping around with people and he only wanted people who meant something to him in his personal bubble space. Minho had wondered that if Jinki wasn’t such a gentlemen and he hadn’t of been attacked by those men, if he wouldn’t have become a nymphomaniac. The way he reacted to touch, the sounds he made, the way that when he gave - when he was capable of giving - he gave everything. He was very sensual and it made him beautiful.

So, maybe they did a little more than him sucking Jinki’s cock.

The first taste of his lips had ignited a fire inside of Minho and he’d wanted more. After he’d satiated the need to feel and taste all of Jinki’s body, he may have rode his cock, but hey... he wasn’t telling anyone that. Although, by now, they’d probably figured out that Jinki wasn’t exactly a Bottom. Minho was a switch, but he’d never deny the fact that he like to take it up the ass. Sex was sex and he didn’t believe in limiting himself where pleasure was concerned.

Plus, it was just so fucking good.

Jinki rolled them over to where he was on top of him. He barely had any sweat on his forehead. Minho’s whole body was covered in sweat and his chest was moving rapidly as he worked on getting his breath back. There was a pleasant burn in his thighs and there was that dull sensation at the base of his spine that told him he’d be feeling sore later. Hell, he’d be sore for days, maybe even a week.

He wrapped his legs around Jinki’s waist and pulled him closer. His eyes closed when Jinki got closer to his face. Warmth burned along his closed eyelids as he pressed his lips to each one. Then he kissed his left cheek, then his lips. As tired as they were, this should have been the end of it, but it wasn’t.

They couldn’t stop touching each other. Minho let Jinki do whatever he wanted to do to him. Even if he hadn’t of been tired, he still would have let him. Jinki didn’t seem as tired as he was and it was probably from all that pent up energy he’d been talking about, which was why he’d wanted to leave the room in the first place. He groaned as Jinki bit down on the skin where his neck and shoulder became one.

Seething, Minho let one leg slide down from around his waist and he pressed his foot into the bed. He used the leg still around Jinki’s waist to start rolling his hips up, enjoying the ‘almost too much’ sensation he got when his spent cock met Jinki’s stomach or his pubic hair. His cock wasn’t ready again, yet, but he was. Jinki slipped a hand under his neck and pulled him closer. He bit him harder and Minho grit his teeth at the sudden pain.

A second later the pain fluttered in to pleasure and it crested down his body. He gasped at the intense change in sensations and wrapped his other leg back around Jinki’s waist. “Fuck fuck...” He could only whisper, he didn’t have enough breath in his lungs or enough coherency to form anything more articulate than that. It was ok, though.

It was good.

Jinki suckled on small patches of skin around where he’d bit down and he arched his back slightly as Minho ran his fingernails down it. The friction from the blunt edges caused following trails of pulsing heat to rise. Jinki had been separated from Minho for too long and these last couple of days, every time they did this, he couldn’t get enough of him. He’d missed this, missed him so fucking much that sometimes being this close physically hurt. His heart would ache and he’d be reminded that this was his second chance. He’d be better, he’d try harder.

He’d hold on tighter. Besides the inevitable every day shit they had to endure, there wouldn’t be a second repeat of them doing something stupid enough to get either of them killed. Not if he had anything to do with it. This was also they last time they’d have this much privacy for a while, so they’d made the best of it- well, were still making the best of it. He kissed Minho hard on the mouth and unwrapped his legs from his waist to push them more open and up towards his chest.

~

There’s a thing with alcohol. If your wound isn’t infected, it still fucking burns.

The pain Taemin was feeling was so intense that it made a shiver run down his spine. He barred his teeth, his thighs tensed and he squeezed the sides of the chair he was straddling. “Ah,” he said to Jonghyun as he poured the alcohol over his stitches. “I so fucking hate you right now.” The shoulder on the side of his body where the wound was involuntarily lifted up and down and underneath his skin felt uncomfortably twitchy.

It took all of his control to stay in his chair. Anger flared through him and he felt the impulse to punch something- Jonghyun’s face.

“I’m sorry,” Jonghyun said, his voice coming from somewhere above his head.. “We need to clean it before we leave. Just to be on the safe side.”

Taemin banged his forehead against head-rest of the chair a few times to distract himself from the pain. Even after most of the pain faded, it still felt like his right shoulder blade was being repeatedly stung by bees. At least, he could breath right again. Taking in deep breaths helped his rapid beating heart return to a normal pace. By this point, he didn’t even want to move.

He let his arms drop to his sides and hang there.

Key hesitantly patted him on top of the head. “At least, he cares enough about you to help you out,” he said. He grimaced when he heard a low, breathy ‘Fuck you’. “At least, you’ve never been shot. Now, that hurts.”

Taemin’s bangs puffed up near his roots as he slowly slid his forehead up the head-rest. He didn’t care if he looked stupid. Key smiled sympathetically as he squinted up at him. “You’ve been shot,” he asked in a low, obvious controlled tone.

Nodding, Key pointed to the center of his chest. “Right here- it just missed my heart and...” He pointed to the left side of his neck. “...right here. They shot me from behind.”

“The bullet actually sliced through my neck and punctured one of my lungs.” He pulled the collar of his shirt down to show them the scar. It had healed slowly as Minho’s blood had infected his own.

Jonghyun’s eyes winded in horror. “Then, how are you...” He let the sentence trail off, because asking why someone was alive instead of having died was inappropriate.His face scrunched up and he awkwardly said, “Sorry.”

Key smiled affectionately at him. “It’s ok,” he said. Jonghyun gave him a tight lipped smile and his lips were so long that he resembled a real live Smiley Face. He snorted in amusement. Shaking his head slowly, he looked back at Taemin.

“Any way, Minho saved my life. If it wasn’t for him I would have been dead by now. Like, way back before even that happened. I should come with my own warning label. This Diva attracts trouble.”

“Run away. Far far away. Mwahahahaha.” He laughed at his own joke.

Grinning, Jonghyun said, “Sounds like Taemin. He gets kidnapped more than anyone I’ve ever seen.” His eyes widened. “Do you have any idea what I’ve gone through to get him back?”

Taemin looked over his shoulder and barred his teeth at him. He was still pissed at him for the alcohol thing and now he was making fun of him. “Keep talking,” he said warningly. “You won’t have your own warning label. You’ll have a headstone.”

“See what I have to deal with on regular basis,” Jonghyun asked Key in a pitch higher than usual. Taemin’s punches hurt. “He’s always so violent.”

“You deserve everything I do to you,” Taemin said tonelessly.

Key watched the two of them in amusement. They fought like an old married couple and Jonghyun actually looked nervous now, like Taemin was going to suddenly get up and launch himself at him. He doubted they ever actually fought, though. They got along just right, saying how they felt instead of bottling it up and exploding later. It was a good trait.

Key saw him first. Taemin and Jonghyun quit talking when they heard the sound of footsteps. They looked over and all of them watched Onew walk in to the room. He had his hair pulled back in to a short ponytail, he was bare chested and was wearing a pair of dark blue jogging pants. The jogging pants sat low on his hips, revealing his naturally defined ‘V’ line.

It was inadvertently suggestive. Taemin blinked at him, surprised. He hadn’t realized that he was that well built. Key’s heart skipped a beat and blushing, he looked away. Jonghyun’s eyes widened and scratching a place on his forehead, feeling awkward, he also looked away. They all knew what he’d been doing all morning- and last night- and yesterday- and possibly a few minutes before he’d come down here.

Without looking at him, Key cleared his throat. He placed a hand delicately on his chest and asked, “So, is Minho coming down or... is he... uh... s-sleeping?” Nervously he used his index finger to scratch at the neckline of his shirt. His ears twitched when he heard a small noise that sounded like amusement. The heat in his cheeks spread to his neck and he had to force himself to look at him.

Onew was now facing the counter. Key’s eyes widened. There were a few long red marks underneath his left shoulder blade and three round red marks underneath his neck, like someone - *cough *cough - Minho - had held on to him for dear life and dear Lord, he did not need to know that. Hysterical laughter bubbled up inside of him and he had to fight hard to keep it from coming out. He refused to be seen as a giggling embarrassed school girl, damn it.

He averted his eyes and saw that Jonghyun had the top of a fist over his mouth and his face was red, but not from embarrassment. He looked like he was also trying to keep himself from laughing, which made it harder for him. It made him have to cover his mouth to.

Taemin... He didn’t know exactly how he felt about this. Sex was sex. Onew and Minho apparently really liked having it and... ok. Mentally shrugging, he looked away. Thinking about those two together was still gross (sex itself wasn’t gross), but whatever. It was none of his business.

~

“You.”

Minho came to a screeching halt on the porch as Key’s voice boomed from somewhere to his right side. He slowly turned his head and there he was and he looked... He threw his hands up in playful defense. “Don’t hit me Umma,” he said.

Key said, “You’re in trouble.”

“Why? What’d I do?”

Stopping in front of him, Key poked his chest with his index finger. “You’re boyfriend gave a peep show to innocent eyes this morning. He was half naked walking around in front of pore Taemin like that.”

One side of Minho’s mouth quirked up in amusement. “Right,” he said, drawing the word out. “What are you talking about?”

“Jinki, Onew, whatever the hell his name is. He was walking around with his pants hanging low and no shirt.” He threw his arms out when he said, “And everyone got a good look at your handy work.” He grabbed one of his hands and pulled his fingers apart. “You don’t even have fingernails. How the hell did you pull that off.”

Minho’s eyes widened and he jerked his hand back. “What the hell ‘are’ you talking about?” His cheeks cheeks were hot from embarrassment. Jinki wouldn’t do that. Would he?

He flinched when Key smacked him on the arm. If Key’s sassy mood was anything to go by... maybe he did. ‘And’ if he did, then... His embarrassment faded and he couldn’t help, but be turned on by the thought of Jinki walking through the house, unashamed, showing off scratch marks on his back. He wanted to laugh so hard. What he did instead was to pat Key on the arm and smile at him.

He asked, “Are you jealous, Umma?”

Key sputtered. “Ww-w-what? I’m not jealous. It’s totally inappropriate.”

“Chhh...” One side of Minho’s nose lifted and he stared down at him. “Nag nag nag,” he said. Key’s cheeks visibly turned pink and Minho snorted in amusement. He shook his head and turned towards the stairs.

“Where are you going,” Key demanded.

Minho descended the stairs and called over his shoulder. “If you don’t leave now, I might just show you more than Jinki did.”

“Eeeeh?”

“I gotta piss.” He crossed the yard and stopped in front of the tree in the yard, purposely making the act of undoing the draw-string on his own jogging pants obvious. The sound of scrambling footsteps made him grin widely, then there was the sound of a door slamming shut. Laughing, he pulled his cock out and registering the extra soft feel of his flesh between his hands, compliments of a lot of lotion, he pissed on the tree.

~

Key’s heart was beating rapidly. He was so embarrassed. What happened to the proper gentleman Minho? It’s like his whole... disgusting manliness had come out since he’d started spending time with Jinki - Onew... What the hell was the deal with him having two names? Since Jonghyun and Taemin both knew that he was called by both names, then it couldn’t be a secret name, like he’d gone by Munhee with the Imugi’s.

Whatever. Right now, he didn’t care. Fanning himself, he went to the table and started collecting the burnt pieces of wood. He needed to replace them in order to cook some food. They’d all need their strength once they decided to leave.

...and he just might make some snacks for everyone. Yeah. Minho had some granola in his pack and a thing of Honey. That’d be nice. Distractions distractions. Distractions were key - ha - Key!

~

Key had gave both of them new shirts out of Minho’s Pack. Taemin’s was red with a white print across the chest. It was a few sizes too big, so the neck line drooped on his chest and his arms were swallowed by the sleeves. Jonghyun’s was a blank green Tee and it was big on him, but not as bad as Taemin’s. It just looked a little loose on him.

They had all agreed to split the food between Minho and Onew’s Packs, so that they could use the bags as makeshift Packs for themselves. The drawstrings on the bags were connected to the bottoms, so they could pull them over their shoulders. The fashion was girly, but it worked, so they weren’t complaining. Taemin’s old shirt had been messed up when he’d gotten hurt, so he’d been walking around in only his jacket for the last couple of days. There had been a rip down the right shoulder blade, but Key had sewn it up.

They’d look around for him a new one once they started traveling, because blood had left a big stain on it. Taemin balled the jacket up and stuffed it down in the bottom of his bag. It was too hot for it right now. The days were starting to be hotter longer.

“Here.”

He looked up to see Jonghyun holding out a rag and his bottle of water. “What,” he asked in confusion.

“Clean your face off,” he said. “You’re starting to look like a mud child.”

Taemin wrinkled his nose up at it. “My face doesn’t look that bad.”

“Yes, it does.” He wiggled the bottle.

Sighing, he took it and stood up. What did he know. He hadn’t seen his reflection in... so long he couldn’t remember how long it’d been. As he removed the cap from the bottle of water, he watched Jonghyun fold his old shirt up and drop it in his own bag. The rag was rough against his cheeks, but the water made it bearable. He tried to get every part of his face, but since he couldn’t see it he couldn’t tell if he’d missed anything.

Jonghyun’s hair fell over his face as he bent down lower to place his bag on the floor. The color looked ridiculous, but his hair was shiny again. Before the Apocalypse, he always used to take good care of it. Like then, it looked healthy again. Key had done a good job reshaping it.

His bangs and side were cut into sharp points that framed his face, just the way he liked. He looked good. Taemin moved from looking at his hair, down to his eyes- he took in their long, wide shape- the warm light brown shade of them- how they always seemed to sparkle, because he was always excited. His nose was kind of big, but it fit his face and just added to his attractiveness and his lips... they were also big- full- plush. Taemin bit down on his own bottom lip and scraped his top teeth up it as he looked at them- thought about what they feel like if he kissed him. He didn’t feel ashamed of himself.

It wasn’t the first time he’d thought about him - Jonghyun - his Hyung - about how good he looked, how genuine he was about everything and about how his feelings for him had grown over the years. Taemin grimaced as he realized how dry his mouth had become. He ran his tongue around to moisten it. Swallowing, he forced himself to look away.

“Key said we’re going to stop in the City and gather some things for our Packs,” Jonghyun said.

Taemin looked back down at him. “Ne.”

“Yeah, just thought you should know that.” He pulled the drawstrings on his bag tight, closing the top of it, then he stood up. “You ready to go- hey, you’re face looks better.”

“I didn’t miss anything?” He moved his head from left to right, showing it’s entirety to him.

Jonghyun stood up and walked over to him. Taemin blinked at the close proximity. That mixed with the lingering feeling from his previous thoughts about him made his body heat up. He was almost tempted to push him back a few steps, so he didn’t do something stupid- almost. His eyes widened slightly when Jonghyun gently grabbed his jaw and turned his face to the left.

His finger tips were hot on his skin and Taemin ground his teeth at the realization. It was too good and his head started to feel fuzzy.

“Nope,” Jonghyun said. “All clean.” He let go of his face and took a step back.

Taemin exhaled in relief. He didn’t say anything- couldn’t say anything. All he could do was nod.

~

Onew was in his room, fully dressed. He had his machete sheath strapped to his side, the machete in his hands. He closed one eye and used his other eye to look down the length of it. Starting from the middle of it, the shape drew downwards to form the sharp edge. It looked a little dull. He opened his closed eye and straightened up, lowering the machete.

He turned around and reached for his Pack. It was sitting on the end of his bed, the top flipped back. His Wet Rock was in the front compartment. The sound of footsteps made him look over his shoulder as he reached for the zipper. It was Minho.

“Are you almost ready,” he asked him.

Unzipping the front compartment, Onew said, “I’m going to sharpen this first.” The Wet Rock felt cool to the touch, which meant that he wouldn’t have to wait for it to become fully moist before he could use it.

Minho groaned. He sat down on the side of the bed and said, “Key’s on my ass about us hurrying the hell up.”

“Is he always like that?”

“If you mean, naggy, bitchy, snap snap, do what I say now or else... yah.” He let out a little laugh. “Why do you think I call him Umma all the time?”

Onew zipped the front compartment closed and said, “He’s like the wife I never wanted.”

This was the first time that Minho had ever heard the word ‘wife’ come out of Jinki’s mouth. “Did you ever want to get married, Hyung?” He smiled awkwardly when he realized what he’d let slip. “Sorry.”

Surprisingly, Jinki let it go without comment. “No,” he said. “To the wife part. Yes to marriage.”

This was new territory and Minho approached it cautiously. Jinki didn’t usually open up about things this easily. “You don’t like women?” They’d mostly been around only themselves or men since the apocalypse happened. Groups, families, the like, they all flocked to the people they were closest to. Minho’s father had been in the Military all his life, so he’d trained him.

He’d passed away two years before the Apocalypse had happened. Minho had never appreciated the lifestyle he’d been subjected to more than the day he’d automatically fallen in to his conditioned training state. He’d been too late to save his mom. It’d been something like six months, give or take a few weeks, after the Apocalypse had happened that he’d run in to Jinki. He’d nearly taken his head off with a baseball bat.

He’d been injured and Minho had somehow convinced him to let him sew him up. Minus their eight month separation, they’d been together every since. Not once in all that time had they had any reason to discuss women. When you didn’t see one for so long, the memory of them fell to the furthest part of your mind. When they’d become intimate with each other, it had just been something that had happened naturally.

Jinki was silent for a second, before he shrugged and said, “I’m gay.”

Oh. Oh-ho-ho. Honestly, he hadn’t been able to tell. He had a gentle quality to him that could have allowed him to be some girls night in shining armor or some romantic shit like that. He was also totally masculine. Just because two guys had sex and developed an intimate relationship with each other, it didn’t mean that you could or should automatically assume that they were gay. Bisexual, obviously, but not gay. “Oh,” he said.

“Yeah,” Jinki clarified. “I always knew I was. In the back of my mind.” His expression seemed pained for a second. “I just never admitted it. Then, when the Apocalypse happened. After what happened to me...”

Minho grimaced.

“Sometimes, the strangest situations can enlighten you.” He shrugged. “Then I met you. If that’s not enough information to determine my sexuality, I don’t know what else there is.” He gave a little side smile. “I’m gay and I know for a fact that you’re bisexual.”

Minho laughed. Ok, so maybe they’d talked about women before, but it was more like Minho telling stories of his mishap sex-capades involving men and women. Always make sure that a person is single before you fuck them. He’s not the only person who keeps a gun on his person. In his late teens and early twenties, windows had become his best friend.

It was a good thing he was in excellent physical condition or he probably would have been killed along time ago.

~

At something like one o’clock in the afternoon, the group left the house of refuge and headed for the city. Minho and Onew took the lead, Jonghyun and Taemin walked side by side in the middle and Key walked behind them. They kept close to the tree-line, just in case.


	14. On The Road - Day 1

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> It's been a while. Hi guys. Inspiration just wouldn't come. I had to plan it down to lots of details. Now, I present chapter fourteen. Yay. A few turning points and surprises. ;) You're probably going to kill me. Sorry, not sorry. ;)

    **Continuum**

**Chapter 14**

**On The Road - Day 1**

 

    Key turned his head so that his left ear was more in the direction that Minho and Jinki had gone. If something even breathed too loudly he'd be able to hear it. Since his transformation, distance had never disrupted his and Minho’s ability to stay in contact with each other. He waited.

    He heard rolling plastic on asphalt, chittering and scampering noises of wildlife - some on the rooves (squirrels) - and some far away (most likely rats). He acknowledged each new sound, and upon not registering them as a threat, ignored them. The sound of Jonghyun’s eating was loud in his ears and he glanced at him. The overpass he and Taemin were under covered them in shadow. Jonghyun’s eyes were sparkling like they always did.

    Key smiled at him. He was always happy. It was endearing. Because he was focused on him, the sound of him swallowing the granola wasn’t as loud. Jonghyun ate well.

    He’d told him how he and Taemin had been starving a day before they’d met and he'd wondered how he’d managed to deal with it if he liked food so much. He’d been fortunate enough not to witness someone die of starvation and he hoped it stayed that way. Key’s eyes became unfocused and he tilted his head. His chest rose as he listened.

    The breeze moving through the alley way made a wispy ‘fa-wa-hool’ sound. His shoulders straightened as he registered the sound of a heavy object scraping against sand - a foot preparing to brace it's weight so another step from the opposite foot could be taken. He quickly registered: Not Zombie - Heavy Footfalls - High Energized Stride - Minho. He was moving towards them. Key peeked around the corner.

    When Minho saw him, he motioned with his hand for them to ‘Come on’. Key narrowed his eyes, and then looked at Taemin and Jonghyun. He cocked his head in Minho’s direction. They pushed away from the wall and fell in to step behind him. As they walked towards Minho, Key discreetly touched an index finger to his lips.

    It was a signal that he and Minho used to tell each other that they were about to speak for their ears only. If he hadn’t of known to look for it, Key would have missed the barely perceivable nod that Minho gave in acknowledgment. Under his breath, Key asked, “Why didn’t you just Speak to me to let us know to come to you?”

    Minho’s said, “Can’t I come get you like a normal person? We’re not undercover anymore, Key.”

    Key's mouth tightened. If he'd been standing in front of him he’d have glared at him, because that was bullshit. He said, “You haven’t told Jinki yet, have you? Are you insane? The longer you wait the worse it’s going to be. If he finds out that your keeping secrets from him he's going to go ballistic.”

    The buildings to their left had been shielding them from the sun, but they'd become shorter. he squinted against the harsh rays, which were worse on his eyes than the average person. He use his left hand as a side visor.

    Minho let out a small laugh and said, “Stop being dramatic, Hyung. I’m going to tell him. You worry too much.”

    “Fine. Have it your way."

    Minho led them to a store with compact bars over the windows. Small windows lined the right side and two even smaller windows ran horizontally over the double doors. It’s metal sheet exterior hinted at it being a well enforced weapons shop. It may have even been a Pawn Shop at one time. If it had been it'd since been used to hunker down in.

    Jonghyun and Taemin needed more than a single blade each and a shotgun. There was no telling what kind of useful things you could find in a place like this. That was, if, it hadn’t been picked clean. Since Minho had brought them there, though, chances were that he and Jinki had found something useful.

    Minho opened a door and said, “Ladies first.”

    Key purposefully made one of his eyes twitch. “I’ll show you lady,” he thought. He reached out and pinched him hard on the side of his neck.

    Minho gritted his teeth and said, "Ow'

    Key glared at him, because even though he’d caused him real pain, he looked amused. “Freaking Masochist,” he said. He’d spent a significant amount of time around him and had come to the conclusion that Minho did enjoy pain to a much higher degree than your average person. Then there was the addition of him being in a romantic relationship with someone like Jinki. Being around someone with PTSD was supposed to be difficult even in a platonic relationship.

    Minho had said he’d lost count on the times he and Jinki had fought, and he was pretty sure that he’d meant fist fights. It had to take someone with a high tolerance for pain and a shit ton of patience to deal with something like that. Plus, Minho didn’t seem mentally beaten down by it. He got googly eyed every time he looked at Jinki. Sometimes love wasn’t enough, especially in a situation like that. There was no doubt that Minho was in love with him, and had no intention of leaving him - ever.

    Like Fate herself had carved the two of them into stone together, which was kind of disgusting. “Stupid,” he said. He heard Minho let out an amused huff. He affectionately rolled his eyes and went to the middle of the room. The windows allowed a reasonable amount of light in.

    The room was square shaped. Two glass display cases took up the front and right wall. The space between them was barely wide enough for a person to walk through. A red carpet covered in questionable stains (he'd learned a long time ago to not think about it), and a faded, sea foam green one dotted random areas. He heard foot steps and turned to see Jonghyun and Taemin walk in.

    Minho closed the door and stepped between them. He pointed and Key turned to see an open white door. The handle was a small gold one that dipped in the middle.

    This place had clearly not kept up with the times. It was outdated in the worst way. He made a face and looked at him. "So, you going to keep me guessing or are you going to tell us why we're here," he said.

    Minho pointed again and said, "Clothes. I figured you could pick through them and see if you like any of them."

    "You found clothes in this place? Ew." He looked at Jonghyun who raised his eyebrows in question. "I guess we can look through them. Those shirts are swallowing you."

    Jonghyun pulled at his neck line and his bottom lip pushed out. Pore baby, Key thought. His official mission today was to find them decent clothing. "Come on," he said, holding out an arm. Jonghyun looked at it, blinked a few times and took his hand.

    One of Taemin's eyebrows raised, and Key didn't bother offering his other hand. Like Jinki'd said: Good luck nurturing him. You might lose a hand in the process. He'd never met a kid like him, and he wasn't sure how to get close to him. Time usually brought people closer together, but... his eyes spoke of intelligence beyond a typical seventeen year old.

    Getting him to trust him was going to be tricky. Taemin was affectionate with Jonghyun, and he doubted time had anything to do with it. It was a choice Taemin had made. Had he taken to Jonghyun because he was a sweet heart, or because he'd taken care of him? Taemin was a mystery.

    When he entered the room a clothes pile sat at Jinki's feet, and he appeared to purposely not be looking at them. "Did you do this," he said. Shock sizzled down his arms, because he'd forgotten that speaking to him never ended well. He hadn't spoken to him since his little peep show in the kitchen and that'd been nearly a week ago.

    Jinki's eyes flicked to his and because of their sharp line shape he looked sleepy. By now, Key had learned the expression came from his indifference to the world. Like he didn't care one way or the other how it turned out. Unlike Taemin's mysterious aura, his flicked from neutral to vicious. Like a scorpion going about it's business, but ready to strike at a moments notice.

    "I'm not wearing that shit," he said.

    Ok. So that had been a full sentence, if a little crude, but baby steps. "What kind of clothes is it?"

    His left jaw worked and he realized he was chewing gum. He said, "I don't know. Try seventies slash parachute slash awful."

    Key's looked at the pile, his nose wrinkling up. Sure enough, the materials were of wind breaker scruffy and out of date patterns. A rolling clothes rack was to his left, and he glanced at it. "This is depressing," he whined. Out of the corner of his eyes he saw Jinki watching him, and it was nearly as shocking as him having accidentally spoken to him.

    He ran his hand over the back of his neck. "Welp, I guess it's pointless then," he said, and he cringed at the nearly too high pitch. Panicking, he turned and pulling Jonghyun with him, went into the shopping room. "You couldn't possibly have thought I'd let them wear this crap," he said over his shoulder. He heard three sets of feet behind him.

    "I gave it a shot. Actually, I didn't even look at them. I just saw clothes," Minho said.

    Key faced him and said, "You didn't even look? Seriously?"

    He shrugged and reached under the back of his shirt. "I actually just found this," he said. It was a small handled comb with a long head, and while it was a pretty bubble-gum pink, he was confused.

    "You brought us here for a comb?" He nodded and it irritated him further. "You-"

    Minho grasped the prongs tightly and pulled. Where the supportive piece of plastic had been was a double sided, black blade. At his expression, one side of his mouth curled up. "Yeah. I thought you'd like that," he said, and he handed the pieces over.

    Key carefully replaced the head and held it up into the light. "You can't even tell it's a blade," he said.

    "Wow. That thing'll come in handy," Jonghyun said.

    Chewing on his gum, Jinki nodded, and once again Key felt shock sizzle down his arms. He wondered if he was Bipolar, because PTSD was supposed to bring flash backs and irrational anger, but rapid mood swings like that... yeah, totally Bipolar. Or maybe he was warming up to him. He wanted to laugh, because yeah right. He slid the comb head first into his pocket and said to Minho, "Have you searched any other places?"

    He looked at the blade comb and slid it in a side pocket.  Orange flashed in his right peripheral and he looked over. Taemin had stepped up. He watched him take Jonghyun's other hand. Jonghyun smiled. Key felt his cheeks heat up, because now holding Jonghyun's hand felt intimately domestic.

    Minho said, "There's a sports shop a little ways down. I figured we'd wait until we were all together and check it out. Just in case." He looked at him and nodded. Feeling twitchy, he let Jonghyun's hand go.

    Minho and Jinki led the way out. Taemin went after Jinki. Jonghyun turned to him and said, "Do you think there'll be any Walkers in there?" They walked side by side to the door and Key moved behind him to exit. He stood next to him to walk down the street.

    "It's possible. Just like always. Plus, I need to find a change of clothes to," he said.

    Jonghyun looked him up and down and grinned. "You look like something out of video game," he said.

    "Unfortunately, the Imugi leader, Wonshik... he... is an idiot."

    Jonghyun made a face, and there wasn't a doubt he was thinking about his and Taemin's experience with them. Having any connection to those psychos disgusted him, and Key was going to do everything in his power to prevent them from every having to deal with them again.

    "I'm sorry you had to go through that," he said.

    Jonghyun shook his head and said, "It's not your fault. They're bad guys who do bad things. I feel more secure now. Being part of a good group is such a relief."

    Key put an arm over his shoulder. He felt happy when he put his arm around his waist. "I'm glad to have met you," he said.

    "Me to... to you." He laughed and Key laughed to.

    Thankfully, the buildings on this street were tall, and he didn't have to shield his eyes. They walked like this to the athletic store.

~

  
     They'd checked the athletic shop, and finding the decayed body of a man who'd hung himself was one of the few disturbing things they'd found. Other than that it'd been clear.

    Taemin watched Onew stiffen and Minho splat a black fishers hat on to his head. Minho pointed at him and laughed. Onew looked up at the brim and he expected him to get angry. Instead, he looked at the hat wrack, grabbed a white fishers hat covered in yellow smiley faces and plopped it on to Minho's head. Taemin eyed the hat.

    They wrestled a little bit and he felt relief that Onew had a fun side to him. Not that it changed how he felt. He was still an ass. They put the hats back and went in to an isle. Taemin leaned to the side to make sure they wouldn't come back.

    When he was sure he removed the smiley face hat and turned around. Jonghyun and Key were in front of a wall full of wracks. Packs, tennis shoes, exercise equipment, and other various sports things that didn't interest him hung on wracks. His eyes sparkled with mischievousness as he moved quietly. Key turned his head and smiled at him.

    "Ugh. You ruin everything," he said. Key blinked, looked at the hat, at Jonghyun, and winced. Jonghyun turned and Taemin sighed. "Here," he said, holding the hat out.

    "Oh, that's cute," Key said. He reached for it and Taemin moved it out of reach.

    Jonghyun blinked down at it, took in it's pattern, and grinned. "It is cute," he said, putting it on nearly the same way Onew had put it on Minho's head. The only difference was he held both sides and jerked it down. Onew and Minho seemed to do everything roughly. They were like two walls clashing together.

    Taemin hated being so small, because it made him easy to hurt. Which meant he had to avoid most horse play, and thinking about horse playing with them... just no. Why couldn't his body fill out already? Stupid fucking Time.

    "This suits you," Key said, touching Jonghyun's hat. Taemin glared at his hand. He ducked under his arm and his proximity forced him to move back. Jonghyun side hugged him and he leaned in to him. He purposely didn't look at Key.

    He knew he was being an ass- Shit, he thought. Unfortunately, he and Jinki had something in common. Hm. In this moment he could respect some of the assholery he dished out.

    Key needed to back off. Jealously wasn't a factor here. Sometimes, he felt like the adult and Jonghyun the child. He had to help him help himself. "You guys sure did get close fast," he said.

    "Huh," Jonghyun said.

    "Yeah. We barely even know him." He looked at Key with wide innocent looking eyes. "It's almost creepy." Like he'd expected he wasn't fooled and his expression went flat. He looked at Jonghyun and said, "Anyways, how do you like your hat, Hyung?"

    "It's cute."

    "Yeah, it's cute," Key said.

    Taemin scowled. He looked at him and said tonelessly, "You really are annoying."

    His expression changed, and it meant the beginning of a challenge. A bit of pink from the comb Minho had given him was peeking from below the fresh T-shirt he'd put on. Accepted, Taemin thought. He'd play, but if he became a real problem, a problem for Jonghyun, he'd take care of it.   

**Author's Note:**

> I invite you to leave KUDOS to support my work + SUBSCRIBE to be notified when I add a new chapter. I appreciate your support, thank you for reading ^_^ !


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